Bad Intelligence Bad Intelligence
David Price’s long battle against anthropology’s collaborations with the national-security state.
Jun 16, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Peter C. Baker
Critical Agents Critical Agents
How J. Edgar Hoover’s paranoid view of literature led him to target African-American writers.
May 6, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Peter C. Baker
Shelf Life Shelf Life
Antal Szerb and the world’s stubborn magic.
Jan 21, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Peter C. Baker
Suspicious Minds Suspicious Minds
Joseph O’Neill’s Dubai novel, The Dog.
Dec 9, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Peter C. Baker
Shelf Life Shelf Life
How did “one person, one vote” become the rule for statehouses across the country?
Oct 7, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Peter C. Baker
Shelf Life Shelf Life
The secret history of invisible ink.
Sep 16, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Peter C. Baker
Missing the Story Missing the Story
How turning the Murder of Kitty Genovese into a parable erased its particulars.
Apr 8, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Peter C. Baker
Shelf Life Shelf Life
Robert Neer’s Napalm: An American Biography; Juliette Volcler’s Extremely Loud: Sound as a Weapon
Sep 10, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Peter C. Baker
Fight Clubs: On Napoleon Chagnon Fight Clubs: On Napoleon Chagnon
One anthropologist’s place in his field’s ongoing battle over questions of power, means and ends.
May 15, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Peter C. Baker
Suspicious Minds: On Timothy Melley Suspicious Minds: On Timothy Melley
How thrillers inform spycraft, and the fictions that belie them both.
Dec 19, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Peter C. Baker