Conductor of the Anonymous Conductor of the Anonymous
In her oral histories, Svetlana Alexievich orchestrates the voices of Russians trying to reconcile the irreconciliable.
Nov 25, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Sophie Benech
Real, Realist, Realistic, and False Real, Realist, Realistic, and False
Linda Rosenkrantz’s 1968 quasi-novel Talk reminds us that wry self-awareness and anxious fragility are hardly millennial inventions.
Nov 25, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Becca Rothfeld
Through the Slaughter Through the Slaughter
and Bialik Sky—have mercy. When flechettes fly forth from a shell, shot by a tank taking Ezekiel’s chariot’s name— When their thin fins invisibly whiz, whiflling the air…
Nov 25, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Peter Cole
Happiness and the Hidden Wealth of Nations Happiness and the Hidden Wealth of Nations
Two recent books show how challenging the fight against pernicious inequality remains.
Nov 25, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Timothy Shenk
The Idea of Houses The Idea of Houses
I sold my earrings at the gold store to buy a silver ring in the market. I swapped that for old ink and a black notebook. This was before I forgot my pages on the seat of a train t…
Nov 19, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Iman Mersal
Raising a Glass With an Arab Nationalist Raising a Glass With an Arab Nationalist
The pianist was still droopy-eyed, her face as dark as the keys they left her to press for half a century, though she must have been white as an angel when they first strung her up…
Nov 19, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Iman Mersal
The Window The Window
You can identify the one who broke apart, the one whose spine they managed to straighten, whose neck they stuck back on his shoulders. From where you stand, drinking coffeee and wa…
Nov 19, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Iman Mersal
Nothing Remains Unchanged but the Clouds Nothing Remains Unchanged but the Clouds
With his worries about the gigantic power of technology and the minuscule moral illumination it can afford, Walter Benjamin remains our contemporary.
Nov 18, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Neima Jahromi
Michael Walzer, Revolutionologist Michael Walzer, Revolutionologist
The political theorist’s new book on national liberation can’t answer one key question: Why have those words become obsolete?
Nov 18, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Thomas Meaney
A Poet Who Believed in Nothing As in Love A Poet Who Believed in Nothing As in Love
After first writing poetry to impress and entertain his wealthy parents’ guests, cosmopolitan James Merrill went cosmic.
Nov 17, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko