Books & the Arts

What James Baldwin Saw

What James Baldwin Saw What James Baldwin Saw

A documentary that follows the writer’s late-in-life journey to the South chronicles his vision for Black politics in a post–Civil Rights era world.

Mar 5, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Kelli Weston

Lisa Vanderpump and Tom Sandoval, of “Vanderpump Rules,” at Bravocon in Las Vegas, Nev., 2023.

Are Autofiction and Reality TV the Same? Are Autofiction and Reality TV the Same?

A conversation with the literary critic Anna Kornbluh on her new book Immediacy, a searing indictment of a newly prevalent aesthetic of verisimilitude and the first person.

Mar 4, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Lily Meyer

Artemisia Gentileschi's “Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes” (detail), c. 1623–25.

A Hidden History of Europe’s Pre-Modernist Women Artists A Hidden History of Europe’s Pre-Modernist Women Artists

A recent exhibition documenting four centuries of art from female painters and illustrators provides a new way of looking at an era of art history where women are often left out.

Feb 29, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky

Vince Staples in The Vince Staples Show.

The Life and Times of a Niche Rapper The Life and Times of a Niche Rapper

Vince Staples’s self-titled Netflix show is a probing look at celebrity culture, Hollywood, and the pitfalls of being only kind of famous.

Feb 28, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Stephen Kearse

Martin Baron announcing that he is leaving The Boston Globe to become the executive editor of The Washington Post.

What Happened to “The Washington Post” Under Marty Baron? What Happened to “The Washington Post” Under Marty Baron?

In a new book, the former editor tirelessly hymns how he and the newspaper protected their journalists and shored up the foundations of our crumbling republic. But was that the ca...

Feb 27, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Chris Lehmann

A scene from About Dry Grasses.

The Genius of Nuri Bilge Ceylan The Genius of Nuri Bilge Ceylan

About Dry Grasses is long, dense, elliptical—and brilliant.

Feb 26, 2024 / Books & the Arts / A. S. Hamrah

The Era of Nicki Minaj

The Era of Nicki Minaj The Era of Nicki Minaj

How the queen of rap revolutionized American music.

Feb 21, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Bijan Stephen

Sara Ahmed and the Joys of Killjoy Feminism

Sara Ahmed and the Joys of Killjoy Feminism Sara Ahmed and the Joys of Killjoy Feminism

To be a feminist killjoy means celebrating a different kind of joy, the joy that comes from doing critical damage to what damages so much of the world.

Feb 21, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Judith Butler

The Magic of Reading Bernard Malamud

The Magic of Reading Bernard Malamud The Magic of Reading Bernard Malamud

His work, unlike that of Bellow or Roth, focused on the lives of often impoverished Jews in Brooklyn and the Bronx and bestowed on them a literary magic.

Feb 20, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Vivian Gornick

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