Books & the Arts

A crowd in Berlin celebrating the Kaiser’s proclamation of war against Great Britain, 1914.

Siegfried Kracauer’s Quixotic Anti-War Novel Siegfried Kracauer’s Quixotic Anti-War Novel

In 1928’ s Ginster, the German writer broke the mold of the World War I novel by refusing politics for aesthetics.

May 20, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Jasmine Liu

The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge spanning New York Harbor.

What Would Happen if You Walked All of New York’s Shoreline? What Would Happen if You Walked All of New York’s Shoreline?

The art and architecture of New York’s vast and sweeping waterfront.

May 14, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Karrie Jacobs

A video still of Bill Gates walking past reporters after being hit by a cream pie in Brussels, Belgium, 2000.

Is Antitrust Enough? Is Antitrust Enough?

Tim Wu’s Age of Extraction lays out an antitrust strategy for fighting platform capitalism. But does the challenge posed by Big Tech require a new playbook?

May 14, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Michael Eby

Still from “The Fence.”

Claire Denis’s Haunting Neocolonial Drama Claire Denis’s Haunting Neocolonial Drama

Compared to her other films, The Fence is a minor work. But it contains within it a set of expansive themes.

May 13, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Lovia Gyarkye

The Radical Genius of Álvaro Enrigue

The Radical Genius of Álvaro Enrigue The Radical Genius of Álvaro Enrigue

His new novel is as much a work of political philosophy as it is one of fiction.

May 12, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Nicolás Medina Mora

Nation Poetry

Koan: What is the true word? Koan: What is the true word?

May 12, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Ye Chun

Capitalism’s Long Revolution

Capitalism’s Long Revolution Capitalism’s Long Revolution

What happens to our understanding of capitalism when we assume that it might not come to an end?

May 11, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Corey Robin

Hand-colored lithograph of an early baseball game seen from behind home plate, 1887.

Robert Coover at Bat Robert Coover at Bat

The postmodern writer's 1968 baseball novel is strange and poignant—a work of fiction that ultimately argues for the vitality of fiction itself.

May 7, 2026 / Books & the Arts / John Semley

A Louisiana Private School’s All-American Grift

A Louisiana Private School’s All-American Grift A Louisiana Private School’s All-American Grift

In Miracle Children: Race, Education, and a True Story of False Promises, two reporters uncovered a high school scandal that puts into relief the unfinished work of integration.

May 6, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Kristen Martin

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