Books & the Arts

James Purdy, 1957.

James Purdy’s Chronicles of Outsiderdom James Purdy’s Chronicles of Outsiderdom

His fiction, which ranged from slapstick humor to sheer terror, fixated on the lives of those society discarded.

Sep 19, 2023 / Books & the Arts / John Lingan

Copyright © 2023 Chantal Montellier

Chantal Montellier’s Prescient Dystopias Chantal Montellier’s Prescient Dystopias

A new volume collects the pioneering French comic artist's work.

Sep 18, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Laila Lalami

How Stephen A. Smith Got His Revenge

How Stephen A. Smith Got His Revenge How Stephen A. Smith Got His Revenge

His memoir, Straight Shooter—a reflection on his life, his victories, and his defeats—gives an inside look into how the ESPN personality remade sports journalism in his image.

Sep 14, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Zito Madu

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

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

—Alberto Blanco

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

Nation Poetry

Xenotransplantation Xenotransplantation

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

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