Books & the Arts

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Eric on Smithsonian's Jazz anthology and Reed Richardson on the S&P's rating of the bond market.

Apr 22, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Eric Alterman

The Cursi Affair: On Manuel Puig

The Cursi Affair: On Manuel Puig The Cursi Affair: On Manuel Puig

The Latin Boom writers failed to appreciate the work of fellow novelist Manuel Puig, who wrote about housewives and homosexuals.

Apr 21, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Natasha Wimmer

The Idler: On Geoff Dyer The Idler: On Geoff Dyer

Freedom to do just what he pleases defines the life and writing of Geoff Dyer.

Apr 21, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Scott Sherman

Confession Confession

I read the chemistry so I think of my windows as thick syrup and I do see a whole world stuck to them so I believe it Somehow twenty pelicans just now escaped with their shadows but the oaks and palmettos are struggling wildly to get loose If they can’t do it with a thousand hands how could we with two Our predicament had been holding two things true at the same time It was worse actually We knew truth between them and did nothing

Apr 21, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Allan Peterson

Shostakovich’s Ambivalence Shostakovich’s Ambivalence

The musical and political strands of Dmitri Shostakovich's life were intertwined like the braids of a noose.

Apr 21, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Michael O’Donnell

Tangled Up in Unbelievable Foolishness Tangled Up in Unbelievable Foolishness

Eric Alterman reviews jazz, including Wynton Marsalis and Eric Clapton, the Jazz Foundation benefit, and Reed Richardson discusses the ethics of Obama's budget speech.

Apr 15, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Eric Alterman

How Socialists Built America

How Socialists Built America How Socialists Built America

The history of our nation has many rich and vibrant hues—some of them red.

Apr 13, 2011 / Books & the Arts / John Nichols

Watered Whiskey: James Baldwin’s Uncollected Writings

Watered Whiskey: James Baldwin’s Uncollected Writings Watered Whiskey: James Baldwin’s Uncollected Writings

The Cross of Redemption tells the story of James Baldwin as a working writer: casual, lax and preachy, but also honest, angry and brilliant.

Apr 13, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Elias Altman

History and Heartbreak: The Letters of Rosa Luxemburg History and Heartbreak: The Letters of Rosa Luxemburg

Rosa Luxemburg wanted it all: books and music, sex and art, evening walks and the revolution. Her lover, Leo Jogiches, told her this was nonsense.

Apr 13, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Vivian Gornick

Before the Flood: Information Before the Information Age Before the Flood: Information Before the Information Age

Ann Blair’s Too Much to Know explains how across the centuries the profusion of information has always inspired readers to invent shortcuts to knowledge.

Apr 13, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Paula Findlen

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