Beautiful, Lonely, and Degraded: Gavin Lambert’s LA Beautiful, Lonely, and Degraded: Gavin Lambert’s LA
In his 1979 novel The Goodby People, he finds a picturesque city defined by its sense of disconnection and immense sadness.
Mar 16, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Kate Wolf
The Obscene Invention of California Capitalism The Obscene Invention of California Capitalism
A conversation with Malcolm Harris about his new history of Silicon Valley, Palo Alto, the West Coast's settler ideology, and recent turbulence in the world of tech.
Mar 15, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Emma Hager
Down and Out in Paris With Rainer Maria Rilke Down and Out in Paris With Rainer Maria Rilke
In The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge, the German poet’s only novel, a young artist contends with the contradictions of urban experience and the dream of pastoral life
Mar 14, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Ratik Asokan
The Reckless History of the Automobile The Reckless History of the Automobile
In The Car, Bryan Appleyard sets out to celebrate the freedom these vehicles granted. But what if they were a dangerous technology from the start?
Mar 13, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Paris Marx
The Many Labyrinths of Alejandro Iñarritu’s Oscar-Nominated “Bardo” The Many Labyrinths of Alejandro Iñarritu’s Oscar-Nominated “Bardo”
Disjointed, unnerving, and divisive, Bardo challenges its viewers to make sense of it.
Mar 9, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Ilan Stavans
What the Oscars Represent: Meritocracy Without Merit What the Oscars Represent: Meritocracy Without Merit
In Michael Schulman’s extensive history of the awards, Oscar Wars, he documents how the institution’s reactionary origins still leak into today’s film culture.
Mar 8, 2023 / Books & the Arts / David Hajdu
The Cult of J. Edgar Hoover The Cult of J. Edgar Hoover
A zealot through and through, he ran the FBI like a religious sect.
Mar 7, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Adam Hochschild
The Costs and Contradictions of Ballet The Costs and Contradictions of Ballet
Alice Robb’s Don’t Think, Dear and Ellen O’Connell Whittet’s What You Become in Flight explore both the liberating sense of art and the domineering logic of ballet.
Mar 4, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Glory Liu
Nan Goldin’s Life Between Art and Activism Nan Goldin’s Life Between Art and Activism
The impact of her pioneering photography and her advocacy on behalf of those harmed by Purdue Pharma is chronicled in Laura Poitras’s All the Beauty and the Bloodshed.
Mar 4, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
Gwendoline Riley’s Biting Realism Gwendoline Riley’s Biting Realism
By turns bracing and comical, her novels find in everyday domestic dramas the art of life.
Mar 2, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Robert Rubsam