Noah Berlatsky

Some love stories don't end happily. So why do so many romance novels insist they do?

Illicit passions aren't less enjoyable because they're illicit. Quite the contrary.

Art without politics actually results in a sweeping Puritanism. For art to have power, it needs to engage with power, with politics.

As a parent, you tend to assume that you have some say in forming your child's mental landscape. Then Santa comes along.

C.S. Lewis' classic book presents an unlikely challenge to the patriarchy in the form of its true hero, Lucy.

Critics say call-out culture is mean-spirited and bullying. Not so fast.

Who is memorialized in death has everything to do with race, class . . . and who you were in life.

Irritation is the way of all flesh. The question is, if you're going to be annoyed for all of eternity, who do you want to be doing the annoying?

These covers remind us of the lengthy, rich—but often obscured—history of female songwriters.

Katniss is the voice of conscience and morality in the film, and in The Hunger Games series as a whole. In the just released last film in the series, she tries repeatedly to avoid unnecessary deaths. She insists that refugees from an attacked base be given an escape route, for example, and exposes herself in an effort to help them.