What America’s 19th-Century Reformers and Radicals Missed What America’s 19th-Century Reformers and Radicals Missed
A new book on the antebellum period captures the dangers of confusing self-improvement with institutional change.
Apr 18, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Brenda Wineapple
Is Our Common Humanity a Discovery or an Invention? Is Our Common Humanity a Discovery or an Invention?
A new book offers a panoramic view of how we came to recognize each other as equals.
Apr 6, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Michael Walzer
What Did Equality Mean for the Founders? What Did Equality Mean for the Founders?
Three new books on the early republic explore the critical, if contested, role equality has played in shaping American political culture.
Apr 5, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Sophia Rosenfeld
Le Pen’s Long Shadow Le Pen’s Long Shadow
If you want to understand the wave of right-wing populism erupting in Europe and the United States, France is a good place to start.
Apr 4, 2017 / Books & the Arts / David A. Bell
The Red Emigrant The Red Emigrant
For Isaac Deutscher, exile helped him discover his real community—the internationalist left.
Mar 30, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Bruce Robbins
Ali Smith’s Novel of Disintegration Ali Smith’s Novel of Disintegration
One of Autumn’s recurring themes is our willed blindness to what threatens our sense of order—from climate change to financial and political insecurity.
Mar 29, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Namara Smith
Terence Davies’s Counter-Séance Terence Davies’s Counter-Séance
A Quiet Passion doesn’t pretend to recall the skeptical spirit of Emily Dickinson to the land of the living but rather projects you into her departed world.
Mar 28, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
The Ambiguous Legacy of Obama’s Foreign Policy The Ambiguous Legacy of Obama’s Foreign Policy
He may have talked about precision and constraint when it came to the national-security state, but he ultimately failed to leave us with a new strategic vision.
Mar 23, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Karen J. Greenberg
Elif Batuman’s Bold and Defiantly Imperfect novel Elif Batuman’s Bold and Defiantly Imperfect novel
Elif Batuman’s debut novel reminds us that part of the novel’s genius that it made room for the extraneous and the unplanned
Mar 22, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Evan Kindley
In Brexit’s Wake In Brexit’s Wake
A new book about Brexit captures the deeper crisis undergirding Britain’s bid to leave the EU.
Mar 21, 2017 / Books & the Arts / John Harris