Anniversary or Apathy? Anniversary or Apathy?
Memory and revolution in Poland since 1989
Dec 16, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Piotr H. Kosicki
Barber Barber
From the hotel in Martyrs’ Square we drive west into Achrafieh in search of a barber, where I learn there are four words for barber— three of which are spit out, the last of which—coiffeur—anoints the tongue with its mellifluence, like the milky coffee served by the small African woman who never stops bending and refilling. We sit with a group of men wearing three-piece suits fingering their prayer beads and crosses and watch a man, larger than most, giggle through his haircut. He has some advice for what I ought to do with my sideburns. They are too long, and my beard, it is not good, there are ways to fix this, and so these men, who in another time would have other advice, and other things to offer, gather around to officiate as my coiffeur takes a blade to my neck, and gently trims until my head is as smooth and perfumed as a past which is not past, but present.
Dec 16, 2014 / Books & the Arts / John Freeman
Howard Zinn and the Joy of a Political Life Howard Zinn and the Joy of a Political Life
The essays in Some Truths Are Not Self-Evident remind us that Zinn was not just a historian: he was also deeply involved in the major twentieth-century struggles for social justice...
Dec 15, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Frances Fox Piven
India’s Love Affair with the Privatization of Everything India’s Love Affair with the Privatization of Everything
Arundhati Roy's new book, Capitalism: A Ghost Story, reveals the contours of power in India today.
Dec 15, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Priyamvada Gopal
Remembering Mario Savio, ‘Freedom’s Orator’ Remembering Mario Savio, ‘Freedom’s Orator’
The man who helped spark Berkeley’s Free Speech Movement fifty years ago would have championed today’s activism, from the Dreamers to Occupy to Ferguson.
Dec 10, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Tom Hayden
Artists Keeping Secrets Artists Keeping Secrets
The eloquent silences of Albert York and Judith Scott.
Dec 9, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
Courting Disaster Courting Disaster
Why does the Pakistani military pick unwinnable fights?
Dec 9, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Muhammad Idrees Ahmad
Suspicious Minds Suspicious Minds
Joseph O’Neill’s Dubai novel, The Dog.
Dec 9, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Peter C. Baker
Propaganda, Deed Propaganda, Deed
A riot is a riot because it is not simply a message.
Dec 9, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Joshua Clover
What Are ‘Nation’ Interns Reading the Week of 12/05/14? What Are ‘Nation’ Interns Reading the Week of 12/05/14?
What are interns reading for the week of 12/05/14?
Dec 5, 2014 / Books & the Arts / StudentNation