TODAY: In 1817, Henry David Thoreau, whose essay “Civil Disobedience” is an argument for disobedience to an unjust state, is born. Happy 200th Birthday!
- Bill McKibben looks to Thoreau for a little bit of hope, while Howard Zinn finds a source of radical resistance. | Literary Hub
- Henry David Thoreau, aka: cosmic thinker · tree-hugger · animal wizard · cable news pundit · book-lover. | Literary Hub
- Nikesh Shukla: Spider-Man taught me how to live, comic books taught me how to write. | Literary Hub
- A wondrous work, drowned in love: Read a 1985 review of Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Lonesome Dove. | Book Marks
- The Library of Congress has posthumously awarded Denis Johnson their annual Prize for American Fiction. Johnson’s widow, Cindy, will accept the award in his stead on September 2nd. | The New York Times
- “Among bibliophiles it is dangerous to suggest that the library is a site of madness and despair.” Colin Dickey on taxonomy, taxidermy, and the organization of knowledge. | Places
- A new exhibition at the New York historical society highlights Eloise creators Hilary Knight and the late Kay Thompson. | NPR
- “Much has changed, and yet the dynamics of who gets to call these spaces their own hasn’t.” Making Rent in Bed-Stuy and Bed Stuy is Burning authors Brandon Harris and Brian Platzer in conversation. | Tin House
- “There’s something there, in the corner with my things, something that scares them to death.” An excerpt from Marie NDiaye’s My Heart Hemmed In. | Granta
- Things have improved for Morning Joe’s Mika Brzezinski since the president tweeted to his 33.7 million followers about her allegedly bleeding face: she’s landed a three-book deal with Weinstein Books in the “high six figures.” | The Cut
- From Jenny Zhang to a posthumous James Salter collection, a bounty of books to look forward to in the second half of 2017. | The Millions
Also on Lit Hub: Leon Padura, one of Cuba’s great crime writers, on Trump, Castro, and life in Havana · When to drown your darlings: part two in Terry McDonell’s summer series on how to be a writer · Get a first look at Forbidden Fruit, Stanley Gazemba’s new novel.
