It was another incredible year in reading. Here are our favorite 20 books—including memoirs, buzzy literary fiction, and captivating histories—of 2025. Susan Choi’s engrossing new novel begins with a ...

Slate receives a commission when you purchase items using the links on this page. Thank you for your support. In a chaotic and distressing year, books provided a respite, a chance to commune with ...

This past year represented an extraordinary milestone for the Grateful Dead. The group debuted in 1965 and continues to inspire and elevate listeners in 2025. This vivid legacy is honored in the new ...

You could tell that he was getting back to work when the drinking stopped and the parties stopped. Sitting in uneasy silence—he hated being alone, but, spiritually, he was always alone—he’d put a pad ...

“You’re here today and gone sometimes today,” Van Der Zee told the sculptor Camille Billops, who gathered the photographs into a collection and edited this book before it was first published in 1978.

Seasoned fantasy MMO RuneScape is at a crossroads. Developer Jagex has vowed to remove Treasure Hunter, the game's long-festering and widely unpopular microtransaction hub, if at least 100,000 players ...

The Days of the Dead are happening this weekend and you will probably observe ancient rituals in some way. But do you really know what they are and where they come from? Everyone knows the secular ...

James Van Der Zee’s baroque, carefully composed funeral home photos illuminate century-old ideals of mourning and ritual in Black culture. By Walker Mimms When you purchase an independently reviewed ...

The zombie apocalypse genre may not be as massive as it once was, but back in the 2000s, audiences couldn't get enough of the undead. Films like Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake saw the genre ...

Bob Dylan once said Jerry Garcia had no equal. Yet the music icon, still worshiped decades after his death, was intimidated by one artist. Jim Marshall, the legendary photographer behind some of music ...

Lest you forget that the Grateful Dead are one of California’s great natural phenomena — musical, cultural and even spiritual — witness this month’s celebration of all things Dead at San Francisco’s ...