Donna Tartt has written two novels concerning murders. Her first, The Secret History, the story of murderous college students at an elite Ivy league school, was a sensation. The book earned Tartt a staggering advance of $450,000, sold some one million co...

Like a verdant interval at Yaddo or a sepulchral black-and-white author photo by Marion Ettlinger, a snazzy book cover by Chip Kidd has distinct cachet in Manhattan literary circles (what’s left of them, anyway). The difference is that Mr. Kidd has managed to maintain an...

THE WORLD IS NOT SO FLAT: In his best-seller, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman proclaimed globalization the enabler of emerging countries, "flattening" inequalities with developed nations.But Cambridge University economics professor Ha-Joon Chang says free trade often does the opposite. In "Bad Samaritans: The Myth...

On the brink of the publication of his first book, a memoir-cum-sociology-tract called Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class, Ross Gregory Douthat was looking earnest and somber in tan cords and a navy V-necked sweater, lunching on a B.L.T. at a restaurant...

New York Times editors published reporter James Risen’s December account of National Security Agency wiretapping without having seen the manuscript of Mr. Risen’s book on the same subject, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the events. Ever since the appearance of Mr....

Discusses the novel 'The Secret History', by Donna Tartt. Provides a plot summary. Explores major themes and characters from the book.