Books & the Arts
Rachel Kushner’s Brilliant Avant-Garde Spy Thriller Rachel Kushner’s Brilliant Avant-Garde Spy Thriller
In Creation Lake, Kushner transforms the genre’s familiar plot twists and turns into a study of the many fictions we tell one another.
The Intractable Puzzle of Growth The Intractable Puzzle of Growth
For more than a century, the key measure of a healthy economy has been its capacity to grow and yet if production and consumption continues to expand at their current rate we migh…
Danzy Senna’s Acerbic Satires of Art and Money Danzy Senna’s Acerbic Satires of Art and Money
Having gnawed away at literary and political conventions from within their hallowed forms, Senna has now set her eyes on Hollywood.
Questlove’s Personal History of Hip-Hop Questlove’s Personal History of Hip-Hop
An elegiac retelling of rap’s origins, Hip-Hop Is History also ends with a sense of hope.
From the Magazine
Did the Early 1990s Break American Politics? Did the Early 1990s Break American Politics?
In When The Clock Broke, John Ganz offers a whirlwind tour of the cranks, conservatives, and con artists who helped remake the American right at the turn of the 21st century.
The Genius of Garth Greenwell The Genius of Garth Greenwell
Set abroad or at home, in unfamiliar worlds an ocean away or in an intensive care unit in Iowa, Greenwell’s novels are songs of the self and of the United States as a whole.
Natasha Trethewey’s Life in Poetry and Prose Natasha Trethewey’s Life in Poetry and Prose
A work of biography, an essay on literature and memory and the South, a prose poem full of lyrical dexterity, Trethewey’s latest book is like all of her others: a master study of …
Literary Criticism
The Magic of Reading Bernard Malamud The Magic of Reading Bernard Malamud
His work, unlike that of Bellow or Roth, focused on the lives of often impoverished Jews in Brooklyn and the Bronx and bestowed on them a literary magic.
The Myths of Anne Carson The Myths of Anne Carson
Throughout her long and prolific career, Carson has specialized in unexpected juxtapositions between modern life and ancient times, contemporary art and the literature of the…
The Enigma of Frantz Fanon The Enigma of Frantz Fanon
A revolutionary and an intellectual, a nationalist and a cosmopolitan, a doctor and a revolutionary, Fanon was always multiple.
History & Politics
What Happened to the Democratic Majority? What Happened to the Democratic Majority?
Today the march of class dealignment feels like an inexorable fact of American political life. But is it?
Sara Ahmed and the Joys of Killjoy Feminism Sara Ahmed and the Joys of Killjoy Feminism
To be a feminist killjoy means celebrating a different kind of joy, the joy that comes from doing critical damage to what damages so much of the world.
How Did Joe Biden’s Foreign Policy Go So Off Course? How Did Joe Biden’s Foreign Policy Go So Off Course?
The president set out to chart a more pacific and humane foreign policy after the Trump years but at some point he and his team of advisers lost the plot.
Art & Architecture
The Coming of World Art at the Venice Biennale The Coming of World Art at the Venice Biennale
At one of the oldest biennials on the planet, a glimpse of a more global idea of art history is on view.
The Transformation of Gowanus The Transformation of Gowanus
Can a Superfund site be remade into an experiment for equitable housing and eco-friendly development?
LaToya Ruby Frazier Rewrites the Rules of Documentary Photography LaToya Ruby Frazier Rewrites the Rules of Documentary Photography
A new career survey at the MoMA is a perfect illustration of the photographer’s mission: to reframe how viewers see the working-class and low-income people whom she counts as kin….
Film & Television
The Rise and Fall of the Marvel Cinematic Universe The Rise and Fall of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
How a movie studio and its head honcho redefined moviemaking for the worst.
Why Did “Furiosa” Flop? Why Did “Furiosa” Flop?
A web of interconnected reasons might explain why George Miller’s long-awaited new entry to his Mad Max series failed in the box office.
The Rise of the Influencer Chefs The Rise of the Influencer Chefs
How a new generation of food TV on Tiktok and Instagram is remaking how we relate to cooking and eating.
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The Radical Past and Future of Debt Resistance The Radical Past and Future of Debt Resistance
The deep roots of debt relief activism in the United States.
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A recent history revisits the Tokyo trial.
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In Courtney Thorsson’s cultural history The Sisterhood, she details how intimate gatherings played a role in the golden age of Black women’s writing.
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