Books & the Arts

The Whole Human Mess: On Saul Bellow

The Whole Human Mess: On Saul Bellow The Whole Human Mess: On Saul Bellow

Drollery, mordancy, tenderness and soul talk: Saul Bellow's letters are a Saul Bellow novel!  

Nov 23, 2010 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz

The Dirty Halo: On Sarah Bernhardt

The Dirty Halo: On Sarah Bernhardt The Dirty Halo: On Sarah Bernhardt

Robert Gottlieb's vigorous biography of Sarah Bernhardt shows the actress in all her workaholic, passionate and unsentimental force.

Nov 23, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Jana Prikryl

[3 fragments of Mimnermos] [3 fragments of Mimnermos]

Translated from the Greek by Anne Carson

Nov 23, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Anne Carson

The Thin Artifact: On Photography and Suffering

The Thin Artifact: On Photography and Suffering The Thin Artifact: On Photography and Suffering

Susie Linfield's The Cruel Radiance is a demanding and flawed attempt to regard the pain of others through photographs.

Nov 23, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Frances Richard

Burning Down the House: On Ed Koch

Burning Down the House: On Ed Koch Burning Down the House: On Ed Koch

Ed Koch rebuilt New York City by demolishing its long-running experiments in urban liberalism.

Nov 23, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Samuel Zipp

Epitaph for Ben Sonnenberg Epitaph for Ben Sonnenberg

But still! being but a tree one cannot ask them pines touched by his sleeve's passing where to go I know not when he was buried glancing over the land going up that road ("to wait for a faraway person" sounding like the word for "pines") under the pines when spring came along the road my beloved prince he will have been perfect while the shining days are piled up how strangely awful to utter it on the death and burial of one prince this is a song. This is a song on the death and burial of one prince to utter it how strangely awful while the shining days are piled up he will have been perfect my beloved prince when spring came along the road under the pines (the word for "pines" sounding like the word "to wait for a faraway person") going up that road, glancing over the land when he was buried I know not where to go pines touched by his sleeve's passing one cannot ask them being but a tree, but still!

Nov 23, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Anne Carson

It Was 32 Years Ago Today… It Was 32 Years Ago Today…

A new collection from Bruce Springsteen, a defense of Nancy Pelosi and a fresh angle on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Nov 18, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Eric Alterman

Jay-Z Re-enters Kanye-Bush Fight: Katrina Was Like Selma Jay-Z Re-enters Kanye-Bush Fight: Katrina Was Like Selma

Jay-Z backs the message, if not the rhetoric, of racial challenges to George Bush's record.

Nov 18, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Ari Melber

Between Hitler and Stalin

Between Hitler and Stalin Between Hitler and Stalin

In Bloodlands Timothy Snyder attempts to link the Holocaust to a syndrome of political killing endorsed by Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.

Nov 17, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Samuel Moyn

Without Artifice: On William Brennan Without Artifice: On William Brennan

Justice William Brennan's watchword was human dignity, and to protect it he interpreted individual rights expansively.

Nov 17, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Michael O’Donnell

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