Popular Culture

From a New York Times media correspondent, a dishy history of the Condé Nast magazine empire, home of Vogue, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and more, focusing on its glitzy heyday from the 1980s through the 2000s.

A timely investigation into the new "safety culture" on campus and the dangers it poses to free speech, mental health, education, and ultimately democracy....

From linguist Adam Aleksic, known as @etymologynerd on social media, comes a captivating exploration of how internet algorithms are transforming language and communication in unprecedented ways.

From the pages of Vanity Fair to the red carpets of Hollywood, editor Graydon Carter’s memoir revives the glamorous heyday of print magazines when they were at the vanguard of American culture.

In The 50th Law, hip hop and pop culture icon 50 Cent offers a "bible" for success in life and work....

From Atlantic critic and Pulitzer Prize finalist Sophie Gilbert, a blazing critique of early aughts pop culture.

A no-nonsense and helpful guide on how to cope with a slew of mental-health issues that are hell-bent on ruining the lives of millions of people worldwide....

From acclaimed Atlantic staff writer and host of BBC’s podcast “The New Gurus” Helen Lewis comes a timely and provocative interrogation of the myth of genius, exploring the surprising inventions, inspirations and distortions by which some lives are elevated to 'greatness'—and others are not.

Part memoir, part history, Burn Book is a necessary chronicle of tech’s most powerful players. This is the inside story we’ve all been waiting for about modern Silicon Valley and the biggest boom in wealth creation in the history of the world....

A fascinating and enlightening deep dive into the infamous Disney adult community from the woman behind the popular website The Disney Food Blog.

Cults Like Us explains why the eccentric doomsday beliefs of our Puritan founders are still driving American culture today, contextualizes the current rise in far-right extremism as a natural result of our latent indoctrination, and proposes that the United States is the largest cult of all.

"What should we have for dinner?" To one degree or another, this simple question assails any creature faced with a wide choice of things to eat....

Best-selling author of Fire and Fury and chronicler of the Trump White House Michael Wolff dissects more of the major monsters, media whores, and vainglorious figures of our time. His scalpel opens their lives, careers, and always equivocal endgames....

Tom Wolfe's classic The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, an unflinching portrait of Ken Kesey, his Merry Pranksters, LSD, and the 1960s, ushered in an era of New Journalism and defined a generation....

One of the most admired nonfiction writers of our time retells the story of one truly fabulous year in the life of his native country....

It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. After 1989, capitalism has successfully presented itself as the only realistic political-economic system–a situation that the bank crisis of 2008, far from ending, actually compounded....

History is rife with drug use and drug users, and Human History on Drugs takes us through those highs (pun intended) and lows on a witty and entertaining ride that uncovers their mind-boggling impact on our past.

This no-holds-barred autobiography chronicles the remarkable life of Phil Robertson, the original Duck Commander and Duck Dynasty star, from early childhood through the founding of a family business....

A transformative audiobook urging 21st-century women to embrace their anger and harness it as a tool for lasting personal and societal change....

Dish up the red meat, eggs, and whole milk! In this well-researched and captivating narrative, veteran food writer Nina Teicholz proves how everything we've been told about fat is wrong....

It was long ago, but not as long as it seems: The Berlin Wall fell and the Twin Towers collapsed. In between, one presidential election was allegedly decided by Ross Perot while another was plausibly decided by Ralph Nader.

A reflective, original invitation to recover and cultivate the human experiences that have atrophied in our virtual world.

Step back inside the world of President Jed Bartlet’s Oval Office with Fitzgerald and McCormack as they reunite the West Wing cast and crew in a lively and colorful “backstage pass” to the timeless series.

Psychedelics for spiritual, therapeutic, and problem-solving use....

How Virgil Abloh’s iconic rise to the top of the fashion industry embodied a groundbreaking transformation of the relationship between who we are and what we wear.

From “brainrot” memes and incel slang to the trend of adding “-core” to different influencer aesthetics, the internet has ushered in an unprecedented linguistic upheaval. We’re entering an entirely new era of etymology, heralded by the invisible forces driving social media algorithms. Thankfully, Algospeak is here to explain. As a professional linguist, Adam Aleksic understands the gravity of language and the way we use it: he knows the ways it has morphed and changed, how it reflects society, and how, in its everyday usage, we carry centuries of human history on our tongues.

The colorful story of Condé Nast at its zenith and the profound way it influenced how Americans aspired to look, eat, decorate, date, marry, and even think, has never been examined deeply. Empire of the Elite is the first book-length history of an empire whose publications refashioned American notions of prestige, whose editors became celebrities themselves, and whose diminution offers a cautionary tale of class, hubris, and technological change, even as its aesthetic and ethos remain influential to this day.

You can tell what a society values by who it labels as a genius. You can also tell who it excludes, who it enables, and what it is prepared to tolerate. In The Genius Myth, Helen Lewis unearths how this one word has shaped (and distorted) our ideas of success and achievement. Ultimately, argues Lewis, the modern idea of genius—a single preternaturally gifted individual, usually white and male, exempt from social niceties and sometimes even the law—has run its course.

An explosive new book on the infamous trial Depp v. Heard, Hollywood Vampires paints an intimate picture of what was really going on behind the viral headlines between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, with never-before-told stories from their inner circle.

Low-rise jeans, butterfly clips, The Lizzie McGuire Movie, and Paris Hilton’s nights out. The early 2000s were a time of major moments in fashion, media, celebrity culture, and especially music. The aughts were a particularly fruitful era for female artists—still the only decade in the history of recorded music when women made up more than half the list of highest-grossing performers—and especially pop stars. Artists such as Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, and Beyoncé were leading the charge—their success not only leading to a new respect for female artists, but for pop stardom itself.

History is rife with drug use and drug users, and Human History on Drugs takes us through those highs (pun intended) and lows on a witty and entertaining ride that uncovers their mind-boggling impact on our past.

In Lost Boys, James Bloodworth delves into these underground worlds and asks where have they come from? Why are so many men susceptible to the sinister beliefs these groups promote? What does the emergence of these communities say about Western society? And what can we do about it? In the course of his journey, he meets incels, enlists on a bootcamp for so-called "alpha males", and speaks to modern day Hugh Hefners using social media to broadcast their jet set lifestyles to millions of followers.

Charlie, Dennis, Mac, Sweet Dee, and Frank are deplorable characters. They will never mature, become more self-aware, or less self-involved. That is what the creators of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia are committed to—and that’s why the show’s millions of devoted fans have stuck with the cult comedy hit for over sixteen seasons and counting. As thoughtful, provocative, and engaging as the show itself, this book also explores how the show has pushed the envelope and used absurdist comedy to explore major societal issues, including the #MeToo movement, LGBTQ+ rights, racism, and more.

What if every smiley face is a return to ancient storytelling? From “I ❤️ U” to a string of mysterious symbols that mean everything—or nothing—Emoji: The New Hieroglyphics? is JD Arden’s playful, sharp-eyed investigation of how tiny images have taken over the world’s biggest conversations. Are emojis the next step in language, or are we all just fooling ourselves with digital doodles? Arden travels from the caves of early humans to the touchscreens of Gen Z, decoding the power, pitfalls, and absurdities of this global, pictorial code. Along the way, you’ll discover: Why ...

In this book I examine America's move from relative rationalism to extreme irrationalism, beginning in about 1980, in particular in the development of a social welfare state. The effort to stop what had feebly begun in the 1960's in the Great Society had seemed to become the main mission of the dominant forces in American culture, seeing any mass programs to improve America's lives as being socialism and un-American. It can be argued that this is still the main mission of mass American politics here in 2025.

What do we mean when we call something beautiful? In The Eye of the Beholder: What Is Beauty?, JD Arden strips away the clichés and easy answers, diving deep into the shifting ground beneath our ideas of art, attractiveness, and worth. From ancient statues to street graffiti, from symmetry to scars, Arden leads us through a landscape where every judgment is up for grabs and every standard is ripe for rebellion. Sharp, philosophical, and surprisingly witty, this book will challenge what you think you know about taste, envy, and what really stands the test of time. For anyone who’s ever ...

Now a sprawling video game franchise, Resident Evil has kept us on the edge of our seats for decades with its tried-and-true brand of jump scares, zombie action, and biological horror. But even decades after its release, we can't stop revisiting the original's thrills, chills, and sometimes unintentional spills. Pop culture writer and horror cinephile Philip J Reed takes dead aim at 1996's Resident Evil, the game that named and defined the genre we now call "survival horror."

Living the Dream began as a sarcastic remark—something muttered under the breath while staring at rising costs, broken systems, and a culture that’s lost its compass. But it quickly became something more: a truth-telling journey through disillusionment, grit, and the unshakable belief that there’s still something worth standing for. This book pulls no punches. It challenges the modern narrative and exposes what’s been lost: decency, truth, faith, and common sense. It’s part memoir, part manifesto, and part warning flare—written for those who remember what the American Dream once...

Monsters, in all their terrifying glory, have preoccupied humans since we began telling stories. But where did these stories come from? In Monsterland, award-winning author Nicholas Jubber goes on a journey to discover more about the monsters we've invented, lurking in the dark and the wild places of the earth—giants, dragons, ogres, zombies, ghosts, demons—all with one thing in common: their ability to terrify.

Video game preservationist and historian Kelsey Lewin tells the story of how a mundane-sounding game full of bug-catching, letter-writing, and furniture-collecting became one of Nintendo's best-loved franchises, with Animal Crossing: New Horizons eclipsing Super Mario Bros. for all-time sales in Japan, unlocking gaming’s massive potential to tap into our desire to plant trees, find friends, and make the world a better place.

Football is the world's most popular sport, and the shirts worn by teams and their supporters are its greatest means of cultural expression. Every year clubs launch new kits with increasingly extravagant marketing campaigns and convoluted explanations of how their designs reflect their history and local community. But football shirts are much more than just a symbol of which club we support.

London is full of curiosities. Who knew that beneath the Albert Memorial lies a chamber resembling a church crypt? Or that there are catacombs under Camden? Who would expect to find a lighthouse in East London, sphinxes in South London, dummy houses in West London, or a huge bust of film director Alfred Hitchcock in North London?

Bond—James Bond. In the 80s and 90s, the debonair superspy's games failed to live up to the giddy thrills of his films. That all changed when British studio Rare unleashed GoldenEye 007 in 1997. In basements and college dorms across the world, friends bumped shoulders while shooting, knifing, exploding, and slapping each other's digital faces in the Nintendo 64 game that would redefine the modern first-person shooter genre and become the most badass party game of its generation.

In 1981, David Bowie and Queen both happened to be in Switzerland: They met and made "Under Pressure." Recorded on a lark, the song broke the path for subsequent pop anthems. In Under Pressure, Max Brzezinski tells the classic track's story, charting the relationship between pop music, collective politics, and dominant institutions of state, corporations, and civil society. Brzezinski shows that, like all great pop anthems, "Under Pressure" harnesses collective sentiments in order to model new ways of thinking and acting.

Beyond Belief is one of those rare books that cuts through the noise of modern culture with both intellectual precision and heartfelt urgency. In an era when public discourse is dominated by outrage, virtue signaling, and identity battles, this book steps back to ask a deeper question: What does it truly mean to be good? Drawing on axiological philosophy (the study of value), the author dismantles the illusion that belief, on its own, can make us moral. The book argues that we live in a world where systems have become more important than the people they were designed to serve. Whether ...

Smith tells the joyful story of the musicians, the radio DJs, the record labels, and the live venues where jazz not only survived but thrived in the 1960s. In an era marked by turmoil and struggle, popular jazz offered a powerful outlet for joy, resilience, pride, and triumph.

A free-wheeling philosophical essay, Hypochondria is expansive in its range of references, from the writings of Franz Kafka to original yet accessible readings of theorists like Lauren Berlant. Whether he is discussing Seinfeld, John Donne, or his own hypochondriac past, Rees reveals himself to be a wry and perceptive critic, exploring the causes—and the costs—of our desire for certainty. With wit and erudition, Hypochondria demonstrates both the rewards and the perils of reading (too) closely the common but typically overlooked aspects of our everyday lives.

¿Qué papel tiene la música en la vida sexual de las personas? ¿Cuáles son las representaciones de la sexualidad en las obras musicales clásicas y populares? Desde Mozart hasta Adorno, desde Wagner hasta Cardi B, pasando por Pink Floyd, Guy Debord y Madonna, por el tango, la música de películas y la vanguardia, cada uno de los dieciséis capítulos que componen Playlist. Música y sexualidad aborda estas cuestiones desde una entrada singular, como una serie de variaciones sobre un tema musical.

In Same Blood, Different Boats, the author explores the psychological and cultural dissonance between Caribbean immigrants and African Americans, who share a common ancestry but often experience profound disconnection. Drawing on history, sociology, and personal narrative, the book exposes the inherited naivety with which many Caribbean immigrants arrive in the United States, often unaware of the deeply rooted racial dynamics, historical trauma, and cultural undercurrents that shape the Black American experience.

Kurz vor seinem 30. Geburtstag steckt Filmemacher Hubertus Koch in einer weiteren ausgebrannten Episode seines Lebens. Enttäuscht von den Klischees der Medienwelt und den leeren Glücksversprechen einer Leistungsgesellschaft kündigt er von einem Tag auf den anderen seinen Job und steigt in ein Flugzeug Richtung Osteuropa. Weit weg von zu Hause - in Bosnien, Montenegro und Albanien -, wo ihn niemand kennt und niemand etwas von ihm will, versucht er, sich selbst einzuholen.