Essays

Number-one best-selling author John Green presents a deeply moving and insightful collection of personal essays adapted and expanded from his groundbreaking podcast....

An extraordinary work from the author of The Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights

David Sedaris once again captures what is most unexpected, hilarious, and poignant about these recent upheavals, personal and public, and expresses in precise language both the misanthropy and desire for connection that drive us all....

James Baldwin galvanized the nation in the early days of the civil-rights movement with his eloquent manifesto....

One of the most influential works of this century, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays is a crucial exposition of existentialist thought....

From New York Times bestselling and National Book Award-winning author Evan Osnos comes a timely and provocative collection of essays exploring American oligarchy and the culture of excess, providing a wry, unfiltered look at how the ultrarich shape our social and political landscape.

The best-selling author of The Bomber Mafia focuses on "minor geniuses" and idiosyncratic behavior to illuminate the ways all of us organize experience in this "delightful" (Bloomberg News) collection of writings from The New Yorker....

One of America's greatest living literary legends invites you think for yourself in this compelling narrative of manipulation, power, and the human condition.

A collection of confessions from women around the world, Want is a revelatory, sensational and game-changing exploration of women’s sexuality that asks, and answers: How do women feel about sex when they have the freedom to be totally anonymous?

Celebrated, iconic, and indispensable, Joan Didion’s first work of nonfiction, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, is considered a watershed moment in American writing. First published in 1968, the collection was critically praised as one of the “best prose written in this country.”

The great insights of the Stoics are spread over a wide range of ancient sources. This book brings them all together for the first time. It systematically presents what the various Stoic philosophers said on every important topic, accompanied by an eloquent commentary that is clear and concise....

In the book that he was born to write, provocateur and best-selling author Christopher Hitchens inspires future generations of radicals, gadflies, mavericks, rebels, angry young (wo)men, and dissidents....

Annie Jones always assumed adulthood would mean adventure: a high-powered career; life in a big, bustling city; and travels to far-flung places she’d longed to see. But her reality turned out differently....

You may "know" Jenny Slate from her Netflix special, Stage Fright, as the creator of Marcel the Shell, or as the star of Obvious Child. But you don't really know Jenny Slate until you get bonked on the head by her absolutely singular writing style....

In ten brilliantly written chapters, Stephen King delivers one colorful observation after another about the great stories, books, and films that comprise the horror genre—from Frankenstein and Dracula to The Exorcist, The Twilight Zone, and Earth vs. The Flying Saucers.

“Any story that starts will also end.” As a writer, Ann Patchett knows what the outcome of her fiction will be. Life, however, often takes turns we do not see coming. Patchett ponders this truth in these wise essays that afford a fresh and intimate look into her mind and heart....

Another “pitch-perfect book of short essays” (New York Times Book Review) from the acclaimed author of Blood of Strangers, this one exploring the contemporary practice of medicine from the perspective of a doctor with 25 years of experience in the ER....

A damning confrontation between the American dream and the reality of undocumented children seeking a new life in the US....

The collection of 10 absorbing tales by master psychotherapist Irvin D. Yalom uncovers the mysteries, frustrations, pathos, and humor at the heart of the therapeutic encounter....

In Thomas Ligotti's first nonfiction outing, an examination of the meaning (or meaninglessness) of life through an insightful, unsparing argument that proves the greatest horrors are not the products of our imagination but instead are found in reality.

In 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville, a young French aristocrat and civil servant, made a nine-month journey through the eastern United States....

From one of our most powerful writers, a work of stunning frankness about losing a daughter....

First published in 1979, Joan Didion's The White Album records indelibly the upheavals and aftermaths of the 1960s. Examining key events, figures, and trends of the era—through the lens of her own spiritual confusion, Joan Didion helped to define mass culture as we now understand it.

From America’s preeminent columnist, named by the Financial Times the most influential commentator in the nation, a must-have collection of Charles Krauthammer’s essential, timeless writings....

Do lobsters feel pain? Did Franz Kafka have a funny bone? David Foster Wallace answers these questions and more in essays that are also enthralling narrative adventures....

Acclaimed Irish novelist Colm Tóibín first read James Baldwin just after turning eighteen. He had completed his first year at an Irish university and was struggling to free himself from a religious upbringing. Inspired by the novel Go Tell It on the Mountain, Tóibín found a writer who would be a lifelong companion and exemplar.

Life and Art—these are the twin subjects considered in Richard Russo’s twelve masterful new essays—how they inform each other and how the stories we tell ourselves about both shape our understanding of the world around us. In “The Lives of Others,” he reflects on the implacable fact that writers use people, insisting that what matters, in the end, is how and for what purpose. How do you bridge the gap between what you know and what you don’t, and sometimes can’t, know?

From a young age Kerouac was a spiritual thinker and questioner, and he always considered himself a spiritual writer. Buddhism gave more meaning to Jack’s work as a writer: he was working not for personal accomplishment and glory but for human betterment. And Buddhism justified his lifestyle: with its vision of the material world as empty and illusory, he was free to do what he wanted.

In sixteen wholly original essays that blend memoir, cultural criticism, investigative journalism, and a dash of fanfiction, Walker places her own experiences within the larger context of the pressing and underdiscussed aspects of contemporary American womanhood that make up daily life. She explores the allure and violence of assimilating into white womanhood in all its hegemonic glory, exposes the ways in which the truth of trans women's reproductive healthcare is erased in favor of reactionary narratives, and considers how our agency is stripped from us—purely on account of our bodies.

The sport of surfing has a mystique and allure that has transformed many of these icons into mythical figures. Surfer Stories brings them together in one definitive collection that will appeal to those who surf and those who don’t!

The Person Sitting in Darkness by Mark Twain is a searing political satire that exposes the hypocrisy and brutality of imperialism at the turn of the 20th century. With his signature wit and razor-sharp critique, Twain challenges the moral justifications used by Western powers—especially the United States—in their global conquests.

Viviendo en los límites de nuestra percepción ordinaria, los musgos son un elemento común del mundo natural, que sin embargo suele pasar desapercibido. Reserva de musgo es una fascinante mezcla de ciencia y reflexión personal que invita a los lectores a explorar y aprender de la vida elegante y sencilla de los musgos.

The Day I Return from the Sea is a rare and introspective essay by beloved Japanese children's author Nankichi Niimi, best known for his fairy tales. In this poetic and deeply personal reflection, Niimi explores his past's uncertainties and the present's quiet clarity. He writes of the unshakable truth that one's heart and life belong to oneself alone, beyond the reach of others, even emperors like Nero. He affirms a renewed sense of hope and personal determination through vivid imagery and gentle conviction. This essay offers readers a rare window into the inner world of a writer wrestling...

This rare and insightful essay by renowned Japanese children's author Nankichi Niimi offers a thoughtful critique of the limitations placed on creative storytelling—particularly in broadcast media. In the essay, Niimi reflects on the rigid conditions imposed on writers when submitting radio plays: the story must be completed in 30 minutes, include a specific number of characters, be cheerful and wholesome, express national identity, and—though vaguely defined—must also be artistically excellent. Niimi questions how true inspiration can flourish under such constraints, touching on the ...

What happens when beauty intersects with horror? In her newest nonfiction collection, Jehanne Dubrow interrogates the ethical questions that arise when we aestheticize atrocity. The daughter of US diplomats, she weaves memories of growing up overseas among narratives centered on art objects created while working under oppressive regimes.

« Mes grands-parents ont grandi à l’Est de l’Europe, dans des pays de grands froids. Ils ont connu le chaos, les persécutions et l’exil. Plus qu’un désir, une fascination, la France fut pour eux une intuition. Même si tout cela m’est inconnu, cela ne m’est pas étranger. Je porte en moi leurs racines et aujourd’hui, sans que je les convoque, elles se rappellent à moi. ».

ゴミカスみたいなおのれを命懸けで書いてきた。町田康の文体に宿るその精神と技巧。はじめての告白「お互い、ええ文章書こうで！」

In these 15 moving essays, LA Times bestselling author Greg Olear explores how the literary wisdom of George Orwell, Charles Dickens, Milan Kundera, Dorothy Thompson, and other poets, novelists, screenwriters, journalists, critics, and historians can help us live through the Trump Redux, without sacrificing joy or losing hope.

In What Water Holds, a series of lyrical essays first shared at Oregon’s FisherPoets Gathering, Tele examines questions of equity, identity, community, the changing climate, and sustainability with loving, detailed attention, revealing the complexities within their many shades of gray.

Within Her Thoughts is a raw collection of K. Vincent’s deepest, darkest, and heartfelt thoughts and feelings. She uses symbolism to help portray everything that is trapped inside of her. K. Vincent hopes that with this collection, that they can touch others all around the world and know that they aren’t alone. She hopes that Within Her Thoughts can encourage others who are going through difficult times, to find courage and the will power to continue to move forward and to find an outlet like she has through her writings.