Books & the Arts

The Notorious Life of a Nineteenth-Century Abortionist

The Notorious Life of a Nineteenth-Century Abortionist The Notorious Life of a Nineteenth-Century Abortionist

Novelist Kate Manning richly reimagines Madame Restell as a defender of women from the horrors of poverty, male privilege and their own physiology.

Oct 9, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Katha Pollitt

Does the Chilean Experience Offer a Way Out for Egypt?

Does the Chilean Experience Offer a Way Out for Egypt? Does the Chilean Experience Offer a Way Out for Egypt?

My country can perhaps offer Egyptians a strategy whereby a fearful and divided populace can rid itself of an oppressive regime.

Oct 8, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Ariel Dorfman

Citizen Marx

Citizen Marx Citizen Marx

By refusing to treat Marx as our contemporary, Jonathan Sperber has brought him back to life.

Oct 8, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Sam Stark

Atavistic Sonnet Atavistic Sonnet

Shadow of the gull on the airport wall, lunging as the fuselage vaults above the meadow. Hollow in the cornrow where the hobo slept, then a backhoe filling up the furrow. Misery of clocks in neon glare, whereabouts of warblers and island foxes, an old flame googled from the dead letter office, simple as the still-warm bench at dusk. Typing or sewing, or bringing down a fever through a length of knotted string and a rusted staple gun. Here comes the tattooed witch with her drum while the royals wait by the limousine grinning. Shadow of the gull on the airport wall, shallows in the stairs where we fell and stepped, hollow in the cornrow where the hobo slept, a backhoe filling the furrow.

Oct 8, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Susan Stewart

Weightless Burdens

Weightless Burdens Weightless Burdens

Gravity and the three-dimensional tears of Sandra Bullock.

Oct 8, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Presidents and Libraries Presidents and Libraries

A blueprint for the Barack Obama presidential library.

Oct 8, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Michael Sorkin

How Masters and Johnson Remade Love

How Masters and Johnson Remade Love How Masters and Johnson Remade Love

On the occasion of Showtime’s new miniseries, reflections on how the world changed when women learned to demand men give them orgasms.

Oct 7, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Rick Perlstein

Your A-to-Z Beltway Glossary to the Government Shutdown

Your A-to-Z Beltway Glossary to the Government Shutdown Your A-to-Z Beltway Glossary to the Government Shutdown

Eric Alterman's media round-up and Reed Richardson's unique take on the government shutdown. 

Oct 4, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Eric Alterman and Reed Richardson

Demon and Craftsman: On D.H. Lawrence

Demon and Craftsman: On D.H. Lawrence Demon and Craftsman: On D.H. Lawrence

The process of discovery, not their profundities as such, is what makes Lawrence’s poems so gripping.

Oct 1, 2013 / Books & the Arts / James Longenbach

Abandoned Futures: On Carol Bove

Abandoned Futures: On Carol Bove Abandoned Futures: On Carol Bove

Sculpture as a study in disintegration.

Oct 1, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky

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