NYT Books

John Sedgwick was born into an illustrious family, but privilege was only part of the story.

In “The Rush,” Nathaniel Philbrick paints a portrait of the treasure seekers, prospectors and conniving politicians who shaped the destiny of the United States.

Our columnist on James Sallis’s “Backwater” and three other new novels.

What seems like a story of a man hoping to reunite with a childhood flame is really a high-wire act about police brutality, racist conspiracies and much, much more.

The most comprehensive biography of the hip-hop mogul to date is both an in-depth character study and a 30-year chronicle of crime and hubris.

In Mikita Brottman’s true-crime odyssey, “A Double Life,” things get lurid.

One of them takes the phrase “joined at the hip” to a whole new level.

Romantic delusion. Social alienation. Body horror. Just a few of the elements celebrated online — if not always by the writers who earn the label.

The best-selling author Laurie Gilmore recommends books that take all the best bits of a literary love story and take them from fun to feral.

Two slim novels by Nao-Cola Yamazaki show that romance can often be pretty unromantic.