Books & the Arts

The Atacama desert, 2022.

Nona Fernandez and the Black Hole of Collective Memory Nona Fernandez and the Black Hole of Collective Memory

Her book-length essay Voyager examines life after Pinochet—and the disjunctures in public remembering the era produced—through an exploration of the stars. 

Jun 22, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Amanda Paige Inman

Jimmie Durham in London, 2015.

The Unsettled Life and Art of Jimmie Durham The Unsettled Life and Art of Jimmie Durham

A retrospective in Naples magnifies the mystery of the conceptual artist’s work. 

Jun 21, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky

Cormac McCarthy, 1973.

Cormac McCarthy’s Unforgiving Parables of American Empire Cormac McCarthy’s Unforgiving Parables of American Empire

He demonstrated how the frontier wasn’t an incubator of democratic equality but a place of unrelenting pain, cruelty, and suffering.

Jun 21, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Greg Grandin

Arthur Russell’s Endless Reinventions

Arthur Russell’s Endless Reinventions Arthur Russell’s Endless Reinventions

Since his death, his music has only become more influential and more mysterious.

Jun 20, 2023 / Books & the Arts / David Hajdu

A banner depicting Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shaking hands with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 2019.

The Settler-Colonialist Alliance of India and Israel The Settler-Colonialist Alliance of India and Israel

Over the decades, the two nations have become closer allies in business and politics. We talked to journalist Azad Essa about the origins of this international relationship.

Jun 19, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Deeksha Udupa

Quintessa Swindell and Joel Edgerton in “Master Gardener.”

Paul Schrader’s Unlikely Optimism Paul Schrader’s Unlikely Optimism

Master Gardener seems designed to provoke. But in his late age, the filmmaker has settled into an earnest style, fixated on love and second chances.

Jun 15, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Vikram Murthi

A scene from “Unrest”

The Swiss Village That Made Kropotkin an Anarchist The Swiss Village That Made Kropotkin an Anarchist

Cyril Schäublin’s Unrest may be the most orderly movie about anarchists ever made.

Jun 14, 2023 / Books & the Arts / J. Hoberman

Perhat Tursun and the Plight of Uyghurs in Xinjiang

Perhat Tursun and the Plight of Uyghurs in Xinjiang Perhat Tursun and the Plight of Uyghurs in Xinjiang

In The Backstreets, the novelist and poet documents the centuries of dislocation imposed on the Uyghur people

Jun 13, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Yangyang Cheng

The Enduring Grift of the Washington Operator

The Enduring Grift of the Washington Operator The Enduring Grift of the Washington Operator

A new book argues that D.C. became a swamp in the Trump years, but like any company town it has always been a hive of influence peddling, self-dealing, and graft.

Jun 12, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Chris Lehmann

A John Birch Society exhibit held at the Statler Hilton Hotel in Boston, 1972.

How the John Birch Society Won the Long Game How the John Birch Society Won the Long Game

The American right doesn’t need the John Birch Society these days, but that is because it’s adopted the Birchers’ extremism wholesale.

Jun 8, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Nathan Robinson

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