“The youth who joined the ranks, Bierce would later say, was dead. But his ordeal gave birth to a lonely, stoic, and bitter rectitude, a sensibility that was the impetus of his career as a writer and—most lastingly—of his compressed, astringent prose style.” In The Atlantic, Benjamin Schwarz looks at the life and work of Ambrose Bierce.

• Sara Marcus on Ellen Willis (in the Los Angeles Review of Books).

• The cover of the latest Showpaper is artwork by John Lurie.

• Andrew Beaujon on the coming reissues of a pair of Edsel albums.

• Macy Halford looks at Goodreads’ new recommendation functionality.