Dear Melissa— Dear Melissa—
On each body is carried the shape of its absence—the uncontrollable morning— a hammock over-turned by the wind—bird- shit—which implies beauty but is not beautiful in and of itself…
Apr 23, 2019 / Books & the Arts / TC Tolbert
Love Prodigal Love Prodigal
I make love when I am bored. That’s how I know I’m an intelligent animal. It’s easy to tremble—a pistil brushed with a bumblebee’s fur— and who doesn’t want to be golden, like pear…
Apr 23, 2019 / Books & the Arts / Traci Brimhall
Harmony Korine’s Boomer Fable Harmony Korine’s Boomer Fable
The Beach Bum, starring Matthew McConaughey, is all about excess, anarchy, and baby boomers.
Apr 22, 2019 / Books & the Arts / Erin Schwartz
Democracy’s Midlife Crisis Democracy’s Midlife Crisis
Democracies do not necessarily go out with a bang; they can also end with a whimper.
Apr 22, 2019 / Books & the Arts / Jan-Werner Müller
The Transfixing Spell of Edward Gorey’s Life in Art The Transfixing Spell of Edward Gorey’s Life in Art
Mark Dery’s Born to Be Posthumous meticulously tells the story of the unconventional author and artist, who amassed an ardent following yet remains unknown to many readers.
Apr 16, 2019 / Books & the Arts / Jillian Steinhauer
The Making and Unmaking of Brazilian Democracy The Making and Unmaking of Brazilian Democracy
A new one-volume history of Brazil reminds us, despite its Whiggish orientation, that democratic institutions in the country have existed only in troubled spurts.
Apr 16, 2019 / Books & the Arts / Alex Cuadros
The Political Lives of Mario Vargas Llosa The Political Lives of Mario Vargas Llosa
How Peru’s greatest novelist went from socialist to neoliberal ideologue.
Apr 15, 2019 / Books & the Arts / Patrick Iber
Halle Butler’s Millennial Workplace Novel Has All the Precarity and None of the Pathos Halle Butler’s Millennial Workplace Novel Has All the Precarity and None of the Pathos
The New Me and other recent novels use millennial tropes as shortcuts to generational fatigue.
Apr 11, 2019 / Books & the Arts / Katie Bloom
Eric Hobsbawm’s Many Lefts Eric Hobsbawm’s Many Lefts
How the historian’s tumultuous life in the 20th century remade his politics.
Apr 8, 2019 / Books & the Arts / David Marcus
What Fracking Has Wrought What Fracking Has Wrought
Eliza Griswold’s new book, Amity And Prosperity, examines the high human and environmental costs of natural gas extraction in two Pennsylvania towns.
Apr 2, 2019 / Books & the Arts / Sarah Jones