Fortress America Fortress America
How 20th-century liberals helped create our age of mass incarceration.
Sep 27, 2016 / Books & the Arts / James Forman Jr.
A Poet Undone A Poet Undone
Poetry defeats poems. Beguiled by this decorous paradox, Ben Lerner’s The Hatred of Poetry evades the art’s difficulty and strangeness.
Sep 22, 2016 / Books & the Arts / John Palattella
Seeing David Hammons Seeing David Hammons
Given that the artist is such a spectral presence, how can his multifarious oeuvre be summed up in a single retrospective survey?
Sep 21, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
A Part of Denise Riley’s Song A Part of Denise Riley’s Song
The shadow of ballad meter haunts Riley’s poems, which can never not be a sign of vitality.
Sep 20, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko
‘The Nation’ Names David Marcus Literary Editor ‘The Nation’ Names David Marcus Literary Editor
Marcus takes over stewardship of the magazine’s storied books and arts section.
Sep 20, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Press Room
Black as We Wanna Be Black as We Wanna Be
Trying to remedy racism on its own intellectual terrain is like trying to extinguish a fire by striking another match. The fiction must be unbelieved, the fire stamped out.
Sep 15, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Matthew McKnight
A Lion in Winter A Lion in Winter
Jürgen Habermas remains an indispensable guide to the unfinished project of democratic consciousness and enlightenment.
Sep 14, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Peter E. Gordon
Who Freed the Slaves? Who Freed the Slaves?
For some time now, the answer has not been the abolitionists.
Sep 13, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Stephanie McCurry
Affliction and Salvation Affliction and Salvation
Love was a learned art for Iris Murdoch, because it involved realizing that something other than the self is real.
Sep 9, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Becca Rothfeld
The Virtue of Patience The Virtue of Patience
It has taken a lifetime of reading, writing, and drawing for Daniel Clowes to achieve the creative maturity on display in his new book.
Sep 8, 2016 / Books & the Arts / David Hajdu