Books & the Arts

Social Democratic Party of India activists carrying placards with photographs of Yakub Memon, July 27, 2015.

‘Who Is Going to Believe You?’ ‘Who Is Going to Believe You?’

The fate of Yakub Memon, who was executed last summer by the Indian state, shows that reality needn’t be transfigured for its absurdity to be understood.

Dec 17, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Abhrajyoti Chakraborty

Forget What You’ve Heard: These Were the Ten Best Albums of 2015

Forget What You’ve Heard: These Were the Ten Best Albums of 2015 Forget What You’ve Heard: These Were the Ten Best Albums of 2015

In a year when sales numbers fell to an all-time low, the quality of music produced was stunningly high.

Dec 17, 2015 / Books & the Arts / David Hajdu

US Army Joint Chiefs General William C. Westmoreland, 1972.

Support the Troops… and Support Me Support the Troops… and Support Me

A new history of the military welfare state shows how politicians and military leaders have draped themselves in yellow ribbons to advance their own careers.

Dec 17, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Martha Saxton

Flyers posted on a college noticeboard at Yale University, November 12, 2015.

Speechbros, Concern Trolls, and the Free-Speech Fraud Speechbros, Concern Trolls, and the Free-Speech Fraud

The anger over ceaseless racial threats has entwined with the recognition of campus as one more zone of unfreedom.

Dec 17, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Joshua Clover

A scene from the New York Metropolitan Opera’s production of Alban Berg’s ‘Lulu’.

An Opera of Permanent Catastrophe, and of Hope An Opera of Permanent Catastrophe, and of Hope

A new production of Alban Berg’s Lulu reveals the explosive powers still manifest in modern art.

Dec 3, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Peter E. Gordon

Cookie Monster, Hello Kitty, and Super Mario in Times Square.

What Happens to the Right of Public Assembly in the Absence of Public Space? What Happens to the Right of Public Assembly in the Absence of Public Space?

The mentality of traffic engineering cripples mass transit, and free speech, in New York City.

Dec 3, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Michael Sorkin

Sylvester Stallone (left) as Rocky Balboa and Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Johnson in Creed.

Rocky Without Reaganism Rocky Without Reaganism

Creed offers a surprisingly daring depiction of the Rocky universe as seen from the other side of the tracks.

Dec 3, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

To Tell of Bodies Changed

To Tell of Bodies Changed To Tell of Bodies Changed

Having desired little more than the arrival of the little more that arrives, outside our window a cypress of model proportions. Its patience seems to widen the nights we sleep in R…

Dec 3, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Jana Prikryl

John G. Roberts (left), Chief Justice and chief critic of the Voting Rights Act.

Voting Rights and the Second Redemption Voting Rights and the Second Redemption

Ari Berman’s Give Us the Ballot argues that democratic rights can never be taken for granted.

Dec 3, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Eric Foner

Maureen Gallace, Ice Storm, Easton (With Robert), 2015.

Is Serious Landscape Painting Still Possible? Is Serious Landscape Painting Still Possible?

Maureen Gallace’s fresh and enigmatic work indicates that it is.

Nov 25, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky

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