Public Books

  • This Week in Essays

    This Week in Essays

    A weekly roundup of essays we’re reading online!

  • This Week in Essays

    This Week in Essays

    A weekly roundup of essays we’re reading online!

  • This Week in Essays

    This Week in Essays

    A weekly roundup of essays we’re reading online!

  • Sex, Money, and Art Forgery

    “Novels about psychically and sexually burdened paintings have a rich literary pedigree,” writes UNC Professor of Art History Maggie Cao for Public Books. Cao’s essay tackles the subject of forgery, which puts “the intimate, almost magical role that works of art play…

  • Black Memoir

    Memoir, the offspring of the slave narrative, is not simply a form within the Black literary tradition; it has thoroughly shaped that tradition. With the release of smash hit Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, as well as…

  • History Is Addictive

    For Public Books, David Kurnick explores how Elena Ferrante’s attention to history contributes to the addictive nature of her novels and is helping to “revive” realism: The addictive quality of the Neapolitan novels on which everyone agrees may finally derive from their…