A gripping new account captures the October Revolution's great intellectual facing doom (and feeding bunnies)
By Andrew O'Hehir Oct 1, 2009
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A controversial new biography collects just about every rumor and bad story ever told about baseball icon Alex Rodriguez. But who leaked his drug tests, and what do they mean, anyway?
By Allen Barra
May 8, 2009
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Is Helen Gurley Brown's legacy more than just sex quizzes and cleavage? A new biography of Cosmo's founder proclaims her a pioneer of today's raunchy, unapologetic brand of feminism.
By Laura Miller
April 12, 2009
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Flannery O'Connor wrote two novels and died young, but her influence has been vast. Why has it taken half a century for her to get a definitive biography?
By Allen Barra
March 3, 2009
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In Germany, Wagner is worshiped like a god. His scheming, squabbling descendants are another story.
By Laura Miller
January 15, 2008
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From an imaginary history of Alaskan Jews to a compelling glimpse of the CIA, we pick the 10 most pleasurable reading experiences of the year.
By Laura Miller
December 12, 2007
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Charles Schulz, the author of the beloved "Peanuts," was himself a depressive, self-deceiving character many found hard to love.
By Laura Miller
October 13, 2007
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Janet Malcolm's search for the real Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas exposes some hard truths about the duo and biography itself.
By Christine Smallwood
September 27, 2007
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Who will survive "The Deathly Hallows"? Elizabeth Hand, Kelly Link, Steve Almond -- and Stephen Amidon's children -- join Salon staff and place their bets.
By Thomas Rogers and Matthew Fishbane
July 6, 2007
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Biographer Meryle Secrest shares her secrets: Don't fall in love with Stephen Sondheim, and watch out for Salvador Dali's hit men.
By Rachel Aviv
June 27, 2007
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Richard Nixon continues to fascinate and repel us. On the 35th anniversary of Watergate, is it time to stop kicking Dick around and reconsider his accomplishments?
By Allen Barra
June 15, 2007
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The Russian empress remains fascinating not because she attempted sex with a horse, but for expanding her empire, squashing her enemies and acting like, well, a man.
By Laura Miller
February 13, 2007
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A new biography is perfect for those who haven't read "Remembrance of Things Past" -- but would like to pretend they have.
By George Rafael
June 20, 2006
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A new biography depicts Madame Bovary's creator as a sexual adventurer who spent his life at war with his bourgeois self.
By Stephen Amidon
April 15, 2006
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America's favorite cross-dressing, gunslinging frontier woman was less (and more) than her legend would have you think.
By Margot Mifflin
December 6, 2005
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Casey Stengel was more genius than clown, a new book argues, and his brilliance as the Yankees manager was forged through years of losing in Brooklyn and Boston.
April 21, 2005
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The steamy, violent saga of medieval lovers Abelard and Heloise -- and their kinky letters -- uncannily anticipate today's battles over sex and religion.
By Priya Jain
December 18, 2004
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In Stephen Greenblatt's marvelous new study, William Shakespeare emerges as a drab and conventional burgher who somehow became the greatest writer the world has ever known.
By Laura Miller
September 27, 2004
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Jorge Luis Borges went from being an unknown middle-aged librarian to one of the 20th century's most influential writers. So why do so few people read him now?
By Allen Barra
August 27, 2004
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February 24, 2004
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Growing up, all the kids -- black and white -- exiled me for being an obsessive reader. This year, I finally found three books that capture the black nerd experience.
By Adrienne Crew
June 27, 2003
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By the Associated Press
August 20, 2002
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Paul Johnson's "Napoleon" embodies the best of Penguin's discontinued short biography series, while Jane Smiley's "Dickens," alas, represents the worst.
By Allen Barra
July 1, 2002
Critic's Picks: The tragic twilight of Leon Trotsky
The dirt on A-Rod
The woman who made it good to be bad 
A Southern Gothic legend is hard to find
Dirty, sexy opera
Salon Book Awards 2007
"I only dread one day at a time!"
Uncovering Gertrude and Alice
Harry Potter and the prediction pool
The lives of others
Nixon knows best
What was so great about Catherine?
Remembrance of social butterflies past
The rake of Rouen
The real Calamity Jane
King Kaufman's Sports Daily
Lust, revenge and the religious right in 12th century Paris
The genius next door
"Borges: A Life" by Edwin Williamson
Geek reads
"Lives" of our time
How the World Works
GigaOM Network
Broadsheet