Books & the Arts

A crime scene at Colorado College, 2004.

What Can True Crime Offer Us? What Can True Crime Offer Us?

Rebecca Makkai’s I Have Some Questions for You tries to understand popular culture's fixation on two lurid things: podcasts and murders.

Sep 13, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Bekah Waalkes

Kate Zambreno’s Lessons in Looking

Kate Zambreno’s Lessons in Looking Kate Zambreno’s Lessons in Looking

A conversation about how the pandemic changed our relationship to the natural world, distrusting beauty, the challenges of writing about climate change, and her new book, The Ligh...

Sep 12, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Larissa Pham

An air raid test at a school in Newark, N.J., 1952.

Is Liberalism a Politics of Fear? Is Liberalism a Politics of Fear?

A conversation with Samuel Moyn about the Cold War’s profound and negative influence on the liberal worldview and his new book, Liberalism Against Itself.

Sep 11, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins

An office parking lot in Walnut Creek, Calif., 2017.

The Tyranny of the Parking Lot The Tyranny of the Parking Lot

Finding space for cars has remade the built world. A new history uncovers just how much our lives revolve around parking.

Sep 7, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Ben Furnas

Jewish children in the Soviet Union’s youth movement in Minsk.

The Saga of the Pale and Soviet Jews The Saga of the Pale and Soviet Jews

The trials and tribulations of a tumultuous period.

Sep 6, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Bela Shayevich

Nation Poetry

Xenotransplantation Xenotransplantation

Sep 5, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Sam Sax

The Senator Who Took On the CIA

The Senator Who Took On the CIA The Senator Who Took On the CIA

Frank Church and the committee that investigated the US intelligence agencies.

Sep 5, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Adam Hochschild

Nation Poetry

“A map grows no trees.” “A map grows no trees.”

—Alberto Blanco

Sep 5, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Jane Hirshfield

A scene from “Afire.”

Christian Petzold’s “Afire” Is the Summer’s Most Beguiling Film Christian Petzold’s “Afire” Is the Summer’s Most Beguiling Film

The German director’s latest is a sly comedy about writer’s block, a bad vacation, and the catastrophe of a warming world.

Aug 29, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Phoebe Chen

Nora Ephron’s Divorce Plot

Nora Ephron’s Divorce Plot Nora Ephron’s Divorce Plot

Her only novel, "Heartburn," looked beyond the love story to uncover the limits of bourgeoisie life and marriage itself.

Aug 28, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Dilara O’Neil

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