Must art always promote a particular idea or ideology? Jed Perl argues that “the artist in the act of creation must stand firm in the knowledge that art has its own laws and logic.”

Katy Carl's debut novel traces the slow growth of love between two people thirsting for something more out of life.

Lara Bazelon's 'Ambitious Like a Mother' raises (perhaps unintentionally) some interesting questions about gender, work, family and ambition—and how individual women (and men) who are blessed with options might want that four-way intersection to look.

A violent assault on a famous author revives an ugly history: the fatwa against Salman Rushdie.

A new book by David I. Kertzer argues that Pope Pius XII has more responsibility for the Holocaust than previously reported. But is the charge merited?

America's editors shy away from endorsing political candidates—but J.F.K. proved a hard case, both during his life and in the decades since.