America’s Unending Struggle Between Oligarchy and Democracy America’s Unending Struggle Between Oligarchy and Democracy
A new history charts the three-centuries long contest between elites seeking to uphold a racial and economic order that benefits them alone and the forces of democracy seeking to d...
Oct 6, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Manisha Sinha
Nicholson Baker’s Maddening Search for the Truth Nicholson Baker’s Maddening Search for the Truth
Denied access to files about the use of biological weapons during the Cold War, the novelist transformed his new book into a study of how America keeps its secrets.
Oct 6, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Charlie Savage
Who Will Save the News? Who Will Save the News?
Victor Pickard’s new book argues that without a public intervention American journalism faces a dire future.
Oct 6, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Anya Schiffrin
Claudia Rankine’s Dialogue With America Claudia Rankine’s Dialogue With America
In Just Us, the poet offers a searing assessment of racism and loneliness in today’s America. But while she’s pessimistic about the present, she’s also hopeful about the future.
Oct 6, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Elias Rodriques
After Abolition After Abolition
Prisons and cops survive only in tales for the young like twin Atlantises or two drowned boogeymen. A cop’s as harmless a Halloween getup as any monster, while a prisoner costume’s…
Oct 6, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Kyle Carrero Lopez
The Supreme Court’s War on Equality The Supreme Court’s War on Equality
In Supreme Inequality, Adam Cohen offers a damning indictment of Supreme Court jurisprudence, reminding us of just how political the country's highest court is.
Oct 5, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Randall Kennedy
The Perils of Creativity and Capitalism in ‘Tesla’ The Perils of Creativity and Capitalism in ‘Tesla’
Michael Almereyda’s biopic of the eccentric inventor is a portrait of the tensions that arise when art and commerce intersect.
Sep 23, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Vikram Murthi
Will We Ever Get Rid of the Electoral College? Will We Ever Get Rid of the Electoral College?
The system that is nobody’s first choice.
Sep 22, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Michael Kazin
Tea Tea
I can’t get away from it. Felted-up reenactors shoving a great fake crate of it into the Harbor and jeering. After the tour group leaves, they fish it back out and towel it off, un…
Sep 22, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Natalie Shapero
Apocryphal Apocryphal
You made me crude because you were afraid and too easily in awe— but I also loved that about you, the sincerity of your love, the centrality of your worry. Had I intervened to priv…
Sep 22, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Christopher Phelps