Books & the Arts

When the Whip Comes Down: On Mary Gaitskill When the Whip Comes Down: On Mary Gaitskill

With Don't Cry, a disabling self-consciousness has crept into Mary Gaitskill's fiction.

Apr 22, 2009 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz

The Newspaper Biz: ‘More Poison, Please’? The Newspaper Biz: ‘More Poison, Please’?

We have no more hope today of saving the newspaper business than we do the telegraph business. But we can save the news.

Apr 22, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Eric Alterman

Rockabilly Blues Rockabilly Blues

Rock. Rock. Rockabilly, rock. Really Billy, really, really rock. Shake your silly hillbilly flock. Sing the Pledge of Allegiance. Sing all the dire anthems of the coming apocalypse. Sing the burning bush. Sing the Wall St. blues & bow down before the bedonkadonk of Britney or the Brits at old Bunker Hill. It's all good... It's all Davy Crockett.

Apr 22, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Adrian C. Louis

Red Cloth Red Cloth

Red cloth I lie on the ground otherwise nothing could hold I put my hand on the ground the membrane is gone and nothing does hold your place in the ground is all of it and it is breathing

Apr 22, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Jean Valentine

The Branches The Branches

The branches looked first like tepees, but there was no emptiness. Like piles of leaves waiting for fire: at the foot of the wisewoman trees, at the foot of the broken General, next to the tree of the veteran girl who died this summer  slow red cloth

Apr 22, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Jean Valentine

Leopold and Loeb: The Uses of Adversity Leopold and Loeb: The Uses of Adversity

The memoir of Nathan Leopold, one of the twentieth century's most notorious murderers.

Apr 22, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Robert Hatch

Democracy, on Mic and on Camera Democracy, on Mic and on Camera

A new film offers a nuanced and inspiring portrait of the role hip-hop activists have played in the politics of Senegal.

Apr 21, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Cora Currier

Wilson Agonistes: The Battle Over Woodrow Wilson Wilson Agonistes: The Battle Over Woodrow Wilson

More than any other president's, the luster of Woodrow Wilson's legacy corresponds with vogues in foreign policy.

Apr 15, 2009 / Books & the Arts / David Milne

Not Easy Being Greene: Graham Greene’s Letters Not Easy Being Greene: Graham Greene’s Letters

A Life in Letters as chronicled by the determinedly elusive Graham Greene.

Apr 15, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Michelle Orange

This Small Extravagance: The Life of Shakespeare’s Mind This Small Extravagance: The Life of Shakespeare’s Mind

Writing a biography of the mind of Shakespeare is a challenge that requires the ingenuity of an artist.

Apr 15, 2009 / Books & the Arts / James Longenbach

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