Max writes often for the New York Times Book Review. He has also written for the Barnes & Noble Review and the Wilson Quarterly, where he served as Consulting Editor. Among his more recent titles in the Wilson Quarterly are "The Irish in Paris" and "This Is Not a Map." The latter concerns maps of real and imaginary places in novels, ranging from Treasure Island to Winnie-the-Pooh. He has also written a number of articles on the art of fiction writing, mostly for The Writer magazine.

Max's essay "Man as Machine" is in the Winter 2012 issue of the Wilson Quarterly. It concerns the eccentric 18th-century French inventor Jacques de Vaucanson and his amazing (and scandalous) automates. Max was co-founder of Willowbank Books, whose edition of the letters of Mrs. Henry Adams ("The First of Hearts") received critical acclaim in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere. The edition led to a joint appearance with journalist and historian Cokie Roberts at the National Archives in Washington, DC.