What Do We Want From Bob Dylan’s Story? What Do We Want From Bob Dylan’s Story?
In James Mangold's film A Complete Unknown, we get a cautious and reverent story of a musician who has always sought to transcend the limits imposed upon him.
Jan 9, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Sam Adler-Bell
Adam Ehrlich Sachs’s Exhibitions of Absurdity Adam Ehrlich Sachs’s Exhibitions of Absurdity
In Gretel and the Great War, an antic epistolary novel set in early 20th-century Austria, the writer tries to make sense of a society gone mad.
Jan 8, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Walker Rutter-Bowman
Robert Eggers’s “Nosferatu” Is a Modern Gothic Triumph Robert Eggers’s “Nosferatu” Is a Modern Gothic Triumph
The latest adaptation of the silent film classic evokes anxieties at once eternal and contemporary, using one of horror’s ur-texts to dissect race, sex, and power.
Jan 7, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Kelli Weston
Why Is the Right Obsessed With Epic Poetry? Why Is the Right Obsessed With Epic Poetry?
From Elon Musk to Jordan Peterson, a certain strand of conservatism has recruited the poetry of Homer and Dante in their culture war.
Jan 6, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Orlando Reade
The Misunderstood Vision of KAWS The Misunderstood Vision of KAWS
An exhibition of his impressive collection compels our art critic to ask if we should start taking the world famous street artist’s project more seriously.
Dec 30, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
The Best Albums of 2024 The Best Albums of 2024
This year’s best music, our critic thinks, defied conventions of genre and doctrine, showing how hybrid and fluid the art has become.
Dec 23, 2024 / Books & the Arts / David Hajdu
The Empty Thrills of Alfonso Cuarón’s “Disclaimer” The Empty Thrills of Alfonso Cuarón’s “Disclaimer”
Why did the great Mexican filmmaker make a soapy thriller?
Dec 19, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Jorge Cotte
The Brutalist and the Hidden Work of Architecture "The Brutalist" and the Hidden Work of Architecture
A film about survival, creativity, the hypocrisies of high art, The Brutalist tells a story about an architect who does not exploit and manipulate others to achieve his grand visi...
Dec 18, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Kate Wagner
David Montgomery and the Vitality of Labor History David Montgomery and the Vitality of Labor History
From his first book to his landmark account of the politics of the pre-WWI labor movement, Montgomery explored how people’s experiences of work shaped their political horizons.
Dec 17, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Kim Phillips-Fein
