What Museum Guards See What Museum Guards See
A recent memoir by Patrick Bringley about his time working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art illustrates the intimate knowledge guards possess of the pieces they protect.
Sep 25, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
In the Country of the Blind In the Country of the Blind
A conversation with Andrew Leland about his provocative new book about vision loss, disability politics, and the ways in which blindness looms large in our cultural imagination.
Sep 21, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Rachel Kolb
Where Did the Juries Go? Where Did the Juries Go?
While jury trials might have afforded citizens the chance to witness—and even contest—the criminalization of the working class, plea bargains have allowed this criminalization to ...
Sep 20, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Matthew Clair
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
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
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
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
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
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
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