Reading between the lines.

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• Lolita at 50 Is Nabokov's masterpiece still shocking?
  Stephen Metcalf Dec. 19, 2005
  
• The Year in Books Slate picks the best books of 2005.
  Dec. 14, 2005
  
• When History Meets Politics The implicit politics of Sean Wilentz's new book.
  Fred Siegel Dec. 12, 2005
  
• Back in Blackface The rehabilitation of "Stepin Fetchit."
  Armond White Dec. 5, 2005
  
• Sandra Day O'Connor A new look at the Supreme Court's enigmatic "controlling force."
  Cliff Sloan Nov. 14, 2005
  
• Beam Me Up, Godly Being Is alien abduction real—or a creation of Hollywood?
  Karen Olsson Oct. 31, 2005
  
• Ivory Tower Intrigues The pseudo-meritocracy of the Ivy League.
  James Traub Oct. 24, 2005
  
• The Anatomy of Grief Does Didion's memoir do for grief what Styron's did for depression?
  Peter D. Kramer Oct. 17, 2005
  
• The Marriage of Sex and Death The nightmarish vision of Mary Gaitskill.
  Francine Prose Oct. 10, 2005
  
• Wilmerding Shrugged The political ambitions of Benjamin Kunkel's Indecision.
  Michael Agger Oct. 3, 2005
  
• Simon Blackburn The British philosopher's "Truth Wars."
  Stephen Metcalf Sept. 30, 2005
  
• Simon Blackburn The British philosopher's take on truth.
  Stephen Metcalf Sept. 29, 2005
  
• The State of the Church-State Debate Has Noah Feldman come up with a feasible compromise?
  Alan Wolfe Aug. 1, 2005
  
• Writer on the Couch John Irving's undigested psychodrama.
  April Bernard July 19, 2005
  
• The Great Brain Is Umberto Eco's new novel about memory really postmodern?
  Robert Alter June 27, 2005
  
• Not-So-Sublime Banality What happened to Nick Hornby?
  Stephen Metcalf June 20, 2005
  
• Devise and Dissent The patriotic, but unpopular, career of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
  Peter Galison June 6, 2005
  
• Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous Francine du Plessix Gray's glamorous, forgetful parents.
  Katie Roiphe May 23, 2005
  
• 3 Nights in Darkness What Buzz Bissinger's new book fails to see about sportswriting.
  Josh Levin May 9, 2005
  
• The Incredible Shrinking Planet What liberals can learn from Thomas Friedman's new book.
  Robert Wright April 18, 2005
  
• All Together Now: Blame Enron! Kurt Eichenwald's refreshing grasp of complexity.
  Henry Blodget April 1, 2005
  
• Brave New World Kazuo Ishiguro's novel really is chilling.
  Margaret Atwood April 1, 2005
  
• A Day in the Life How critics got Saturday wrong.
  Stephen Metcalf March 30, 2005
  
• Speak, Memory What kind of reader was W. G. Sebald?
  Ruth Franklin March 14, 2005
  
• Unfair Harvard The real story behind one graduate's gripes.
  Stephen Metcalf March 10, 2005
  
• Harvard Inc. A new book on Lawrence Summers and the crisis of meritocracy.
  Stephen Metcalf March 1, 2005
  
• Girl, Uninterrupted Catcher in the Rye for the age of the organization kid.
  Ann Hulbert Feb. 14, 2005
  
• Stephen Spender, Toady Was there any substance to his politics and art?
  Stephen Metcalf Feb. 7, 2005
  
• Bland Justice The Supreme Court, now as ever, follows the national consensus.
  Jeffrey Rosen Jan. 17, 2005
  
• The Diva of Desperate Housewives Fay Weldon's perverse power.
  Claire Dederer Jan. 10, 2005