Books & the Arts

The Misguided Satire of “American Fiction”

The Misguided Satire of “American Fiction” The Misguided Satire of “American Fiction”

A buzzy film adaptation of Percival Everett’s Erasure, a novel about publishing’s racial politics, misreads what is truly ailing the book industry.

Dec 22, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Stephen Kearse

A Memoir for the Post-Truth Era

A Memoir for the Post-Truth Era A Memoir for the Post-Truth Era

In Sarah Viren’s To Name a Bigger Lie, she investigates how conspiracy theories have changed her relationship to the world.

Dec 21, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Julia Case-Levine

“Harlem WPA Street Dance,” by Elizabeth Olds, ca.1935–43.

Reading “Mumbo Jumbo” in the Post-Covid Age Reading “Mumbo Jumbo”" "in the Post-Covid Age

Ishmael Reed's novel depicts an American government dedicated to public health as long as its efforts keep hierarchy and the status quo in place.

Dec 20, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Melvin Backman

A party at Danceteria in New York City, 1990.

Sasha Frere-Jones, a Life Remixed Sasha Frere-Jones, a Life Remixed

Books & the Arts / December 19, 2023 Sasha Frere-Jones, a Life Remixed His beguiling memoir Earlier moves through the struggles and the sounds that changed his relationship…

Dec 19, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Stephen Piccarella

Isaac Julien at the Tate Britain, 2023.

Isaac Julien’s Truth Isaac Julien’s Truth

Dealing with time, race, and utopias, his work challenges conventional notions of where film belongs and should be consumed.

Dec 18, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky

Joan Baez at the Newport Folk Festival, 1964.

Joan Baez Looks Back Joan Baez Looks Back

I Am a Noise, a career-spanning documentary, makes it clear that the folk singer was one of the most important political musicians of her generation.

Dec 14, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Sarah M. Seltzer

The author’s mother, 1927.

Christina Sharpe and the Art of Everyday Black Life Christina Sharpe and the Art of Everyday Black Life

In Ordinary Notes, Sharpe considers Black culture “in all of its shade and depth and glow.”

Dec 13, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Omari Weekes

The Dubious Feminism of the Natural Childbirth Movement

The Dubious Feminism of the Natural Childbirth Movement The Dubious Feminism of the Natural Childbirth Movement

Culture / Books & the Arts / December 12, 2023 More Than a Natural Function The politics of birth. The Dubious Feminism of the Natural Childbirth Movement Though it res…

Dec 12, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Moira Donegan

How Did Marxism Become Marxism?

How Did Marxism Become Marxism? How Did Marxism Become Marxism?

A new book examines a set of thinkers and activists who helped transform a set of radical ideas into a political tradition.

Dec 11, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Peter E. Gordon

The Work of Black Life: A Conversation With Christina Sharpe

The Work of Black Life: A Conversation With Christina Sharpe The Work of Black Life: A Conversation With Christina Sharpe

In Ordinary Notes, a extraordinary work of memoir, poetry, and criticism, she writes a love letter to Black art.

Dec 8, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Rhoda Feng

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