Joseph Epstein is an essayist, a contributing editor to The Weekly Standard, and a lecturer in English and writing at Northwestern University. His newest book, Snobbery: The American Version (Houghton Mifflin, $25), will be available in July.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (Modern Library, $10). The world’s greatest novel, far and away, tout court. It is the novel the author of Madame Bovary might have written if he had had a more generous heart.
And Even Now by Max Beerbohm (Indypublish.com, $24). A slender book of essays that, in its charm and wit, elegance and memorability, is unsurpassed. But then, everything Max Beerbohm wrote bears reading—and rereading.
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Plutarch: Lives of Noble Grecians and Romans, Volume I (Modern Library, $22). The world’s first, and still best, major biographer—for the excellent reason that, in the figures of the ancient world, he had the richest of all possible subjects. Plutarch’s are studies filled with atrocious behavior, astonishing courage, and much useful moralizing on both by the author.
The Princess Casimassima by Henry James (Viking Penguin, $14). The James novel that shows how wide was his range, and range of sympathies. It is also the book that refutes any claims that this great writer was a snob.
The Collected Stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, $18). Singer is a writer of great personal significance for me. More than any other, his splendid stories and novels have put me in touch with my otherwise obscured—by history, by Hitler—Eastern European Jewish origins.
Portraits: A Gallery of Intellectuals by Edward Shils (University of Chicago Press, $58). A beautiful and rich memoir collection of some of the past century’s most impressive figures from European intellectual life—by a man who, to my great good fortune, also happened to have been my dearest friend.
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Burkina Faso's misinformation warUnder The Radar The president of the West African country has quickly become the face of a viral, AI-powered propaganda campaign
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Jeffrey Epstein's secretsFeature Six years after his death, conspiracy theories still swirl around the sex trafficker. Why?
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Voting: Trump's ominous war on mail ballotsFeature Donald Trump wants to sign an executive order banning mail-in ballots for the 2026 midterms
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Keith McNally's 6 favorite books that have ambitious charactersFeature The London-born restaurateur recommends works by Leo Tolstoy, John le Carré, and more
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Garrett Graff's 6 favorite books that shine new light on World War IIFeature The author recommends works by James D. Hornfischer, Craig L. Symonds, and more
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Helen Schulman's 6 favorite collections of short storiesFeature The award-winning author recommends works by Raymond Carver, James Baldwin, and more
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Beatriz Williams' 6 timeless books about history and human relationshipsFeature The best-selling author recommends works by Jane Austen, Zora Neale Hurston, and more
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Aysegul Savas' 6 favorite books for readers who love immersive settingsFeature The Paris-based Turkish author recommends works by Hiromi Kawakami, Virginia Woolf, and more
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Geoff Dyer's 6 favorite books about the realities of warFeature The award-winning author recommends works by Ernie Pyle, Michael Herr, and more
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Laura Lippman's 6 favorite books for those who crave a high-stakes adventureFeature The Grand Master recommends works by E.L. Konigsburg, Charles Portis, and more
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Thomas Mallon's 6 favorite books from the 80's and early 90'sFeature The author recommends works by James Merrill, Calvin Trillin, and more
