Books & the Arts

An illustration of interior design, 1951.

The Bad Politics of Good Taste The Bad Politics of Good Taste

Nathalie Olah’s exploration of the ethics of tastefulness dissects the class-bounded nature of most social and cultural mores.

Feb 15, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Lauren Kelly

Cross-section illustration depicting a family in their underground lead fallout shelter, equipped with a geiger counter, periscope, air filter, etc., early 1960s.

Why Billionaires Are Obsessed With the Apocalypse Why Billionaires Are Obsessed With the Apocalypse

In Survival of the Richest, Douglas Rushkoff gets to the bottom of the tech oligarchy’s fixation on protecting themselves from the end times.

Feb 14, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Jared Marcel Pollen

A model home in Sydney, 1968.

Helen Garner’s Alienating Domesticity  Helen Garner’s Alienating Domesticity 

In her novel The Children’s Bach, the Australian writer conjures a relentless portrait of the comforts and restrictions of family life.

Feb 12, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Isabella Trimboli

George Eliot

The Many Lives of George Eliot The Many Lives of George Eliot

A new biography examines how the novelist chose to make her life, as well as her fiction and art, outside the conventions of the marriage plot.

Feb 8, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Francesca Wade

Pier Paolo Pasolini at a demonstration in Rome, 1970.

In the Streets of Rome With Pier Paolo Pasolini In the Streets of Rome With Pier Paolo Pasolini

His bracing debut novel, Boys Alive, documents the hard and loose lives of vagabonds in the Italian capital’s underbelly.

Feb 7, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Jack Hanson

Has Cuba Met the End of History?

Has Cuba Met the End of History? Has Cuba Met the End of History?

In Cubanthropy, the critic Iván de la Nuez traces how the island nation and its diaspora shoulder the legacy of the revolution.

Feb 6, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Miriam Pensack

The Century of Milton Friedman

The Century of Milton Friedman The Century of Milton Friedman

An interview with Jennifer Burns on her authoritative new biography of the American economist and the personal and intellectual origins of his theories.

Feb 5, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins

Juan Rulfo, 1985.

Juan Rulfo’s Revolution in Mexican Fiction Juan Rulfo’s Revolution in Mexican Fiction

In his 1955 masterpiece Pedro Páramo, he gave the bloody history of his country—between the rich and poor, landed and landless—mythic dimension.

Feb 1, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Ratik Asokan

“The Poor Poet,” a painting by Carl Spitzweg (1808–1885).

Ben Lerner, Personal Poet Ben Lerner, Personal Poet

In his first collection of verse in over a decade, he applies the lessons of his successful, self-conscious prose.

Jan 31, 2024 / Books & the Arts / David Schurman Wallace

Nuremberg, 1923.

The First Time the Nazis Tried to Take Power The First Time the Nazis Tried to Take Power

The year that broke Germany.

Jan 29, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Richard J. Evans

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