Philadelphia Rising Philadelphia Rising
The mayor's budget plan would close libraries. The people say, Think again.
Mar 11, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Robert S. Eshelman
‘Nation’ Note ‘Nation’ Note
Arthur C. Danto steps down as art critic of The Nation but continues as a contributing editor.
Mar 11, 2009 / Books & the Arts / The Editors
Longing of the Accords Longing of the Accords
"life's white machine" Geoffrey G. O'Brien and Jeff Clark We're all tenants, of one kind or another: lodgers, proprietors, houseguests. So what matters is what matters for most of us. We shrink in silken alarm in the corridor--someone is coming? But boa-clad ushers receive us. We were told we were on message, were the subject, or topic. In fact it made a little difference but not enough to disturb or quiet us. Concluding, perhaps rightly, we were of the one or other sort, you signed off. It was OK to take everything, though not to want it.
Mar 11, 2009 / Books & the Arts / John Ashbery
The Mutual Human Concern The Mutual Human Concern
Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Tokyo Sonata, Steve McQueen's Hunger, Andrzej Wajda's Katyn.
Mar 5, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
The Eye That Collects: On Walker Evans The Eye That Collects: On Walker Evans
Walker Evans's collection of picture postcards, on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is an artistic project in its own right.
Mar 5, 2009 / Books & the Arts / J. Gabriel Boylan
Ceaselessly Opportuning: On Barbara Guest Ceaselessly Opportuning: On Barbara Guest
Barbara Guest's Collected Poems showcase her knack for catching sight of time in its act of escaping one's grasp.
Mar 5, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
A Nazi Zelig: Jonathan Littell’s The Kindly Ones A Nazi Zelig: Jonathan Littell’s The Kindly Ones
The Kindly Ones, Jonathan Littell's fictive memoir of a Nazi SS officer, is intentionally sickening and an unquestionably brilliant success.
Mar 5, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Samuel Moyn
The GOP’s Hip-Hop Makeover The GOP’s Hip-Hop Makeover
Michael Steele's getting funky, frantically remixing the GOP message, in hopes of reaching new generation of conservative voters. Is anybody listening?
Mar 3, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Ari Melber
The Politics of Pain The Politics of Pain
It is conceivable that torture will go on spreading underground until it is strong enough to break out once more and redouble the embitterments of classes and of races. If so, mank...
Mar 2, 2009 / Books & the Arts / V.G. Kiernan
V.G. Kiernan: Historian of Humankind V.G. Kiernan: Historian of Humankind
Remembering a historian of the left, an ideological warrior against empire, witness to India's anticolonial struggles and a persuasive critic of torture and government oppression.
Mar 2, 2009 / Books & the Arts / John Trumpbour