Books & the Arts

The Uprooted

The Uprooted The Uprooted

A new history of Europe’s postwar world and its displaced persons.

Mar 7, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Holly Case

Duvalier and Haiti’s Triple Threat

Duvalier and Haiti’s Triple Threat Duvalier and Haiti’s Triple Threat

Why was Baby Doc able to return after decades of exile and evade justice, despite his crimes?

Feb 29, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Amy Wilentz

Life After Merce

Life After Merce Life After Merce

Can the work of Merce Cunningham survive his death and the closing of his dance company?

Feb 29, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Marina Harss

Of Deserts and Promised Lands: The Dream of Global Justice Of Deserts and Promised Lands: The Dream of Global Justice

Jenny Martinez and Kathryn Sikkink offer conflicting histories of the ascendency of international courts.

Feb 29, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Samuel Moyn

How to Watch a Police Beating How to Watch a Police Beating

First off, there should be two sets of laws— act like an ox and try not to be nonwhite or named Becky. A hippie, with its gauche idealism still intact, is annoying and self-destroying so administrations can contain it better. It's also an enormous help that your skin is recorded like data on the surface of your body, it broadcasts a signal—that you're tripping your face off at the prom for instance.   My eyes feel more Episcopalian than ever, those furry little hellions that forcefully broke up a peaceful assembly of women's rights activists. Parking violations can carry bigger fines than beating up women and you act like these people can tape you but you can't tape yourself.   Perhaps if the police bombed a foreign country with lattes my friends would begin to act like themselves again. It seems to me that this is not an assemblage of rights activists at all, said the lion, but a love of replacing state violence with video game violence, great movie gore and plans to repopulate the entire province with horny people again, to participate without these detached coagulations of disoriented rage branching off Falstaff just for the heck of it.  To act as banker, you have to live on interest or uncover laughter at a huge obese religious electoral reform corsage. I guess you're supposed to go through and deny each of the five senses individually.

Feb 29, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Drew Gardner

A Man Escaped A Man Escaped

Jafar Panahi’s This Is Not a Film; Kimi Takesue’s Where Are You Taking Me?; Manfred Kirchheimer’s Art Is…The Permanent Revolution

Feb 29, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

AIDS and Imperialism: Karma and Colonial Crimes AIDS and Imperialism: Karma and Colonial Crimes

A new book shows that the HIV virus was triggered by wanton imperial depredations.

Feb 28, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Bob Dreyfuss

In Defense Of ‘The Help’

In Defense Of ‘The Help’ In Defense Of ‘The Help’

Though complicated by controversy, a weekend in Los Angeles with thirty domestic workers underscores the power of Hollywood to propel social change. 

Feb 27, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Ilyse Hogue

Melissa Harris-Perry: How ‘The Help’ Commodifies Black Women’s Suffering Melissa Harris-Perry: How ‘The Help’ Commodifies Black Women’s Suffering

How does the movie The Help "photoshop" American history?

Feb 27, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Melissa Harris-Perry

Wislawa Szymborska, 1923–2012

Wislawa Szymborska, 1923–2012 Wislawa Szymborska, 1923–2012

The great Polish poet disclaimed grand political schemes in favor of irony, wit, skepticism and the individual.

Feb 15, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Katha Pollitt

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