Was Your Grandmother a Communist?—and Five More Questions for Jonathan Lethem Was Your Grandmother a Communist?—and Five More Questions for Jonathan Lethem
Lethem’s new novel, Dissident Gardens, involves three generations of left-wing activists in New York City.
Oct 9, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Jon Wiener
Laramie Revisited: The Myth of Matthew Laramie Revisited: The Myth of Matthew
A new book by Stephen Jimenez tells a very different story about the killing of Matthew Shepard by Aaron McKinney.
Oct 9, 2013 / Books & the Arts / JoAnn Wypijewski
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?
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
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
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
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
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