Le Carré’s Other Cold War Le Carré’s Other Cold War
The wonder and rage the English novelist felt toward his own country.
Oct 5, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Ian Buruma
Mr. Bright Side Mr. Bright Side
Trump’s Gospel of Positive Thinking
Oct 4, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Chris Lehmann
Everything Is Interesting Everything Is Interesting
Nicholson Baker goes back to school.
Sep 29, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Evan Kindley
Deep Stories: Arlie Russell Hochschild’s Journey into Trump Country Deep Stories: Arlie Russell Hochschild’s Journey into Trump Country
For many of Louisiana Tea Partiers, "Democrat" wasn’t a bad word when they were growing up but it is now. The well-known sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild went to the heart...
Sep 28, 2016 / Books & the Arts / John B. Judis
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