Ruth Scurr on the master biographer Robert A. Caro, whose subjects include Robert Moses, Lyndon B. Johnson and, now, himself; Dmitri Levitin talks us through Diogenes Laertius' Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, an eccentric and often inaccurate guide to early thinkers; Why bother with literary criticism? Whither this generation's Lionel Trilling? Michael LaPointe joins us to discuss
Working: Researching, interviewing, writing by Robert A. Caro
American Audacity: In defense of literary daring by William Giraldi
Hater: On the virtues of utter disagreeability by John Semley
Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, by Diogenes Laertius, translated by Pamela Mensch