Books & the Arts

Down These Mean Streets Down These Mean Streets

Martin Scorsese is one of those great artists who not only expresses emotion through film but also invents it. With The Departed, he proves why he's one of the best.

Oct 5, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

America, Through a Glass Darkly America, Through a Glass Darkly

An intellectual biography of Richard Hofstadter rides a wave of nostalgia for this artful historian and liberal icon of the 1950s and '60s.

Oct 5, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Jon Wiener

Not the President’s Men Not the President’s Men

A review of Frank Rich's The Greatest Story Ever Sold and two books on I.F. Stone shows how media politics have changed since the cold war. Now it's all about repeating the same fe...

Oct 5, 2006 / Books & the Arts / John Powers

Death Trip Death Trip

Philip Roth and Joan Didion have each written compellingly about death, but their insights about dying and mourning signify a retreat from the world rather than an embrace of the f...

Oct 5, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Richard Goldstein

The Dubya Diaries The Dubya Diaries

"Some expert on CNN said, 'A stitch in time saves nine.' And I thought, Doesn't anyone speak clearly anymore? Nine what?"

Sep 28, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Rosecrans Baldwin

A Metaphysical Materialist A Metaphysical Materialist

Philosopher Walter Benjamin married Marxism and theology in an attempt to give hope to the hopeless.

Sep 28, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Richard Wolin

Modern Love Modern Love

Two new biographies of Clement Greenberg take the measure of an ambitious art critic who had a knack for predicting success.

Sep 28, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky

Screamin’ at the Machine Screamin’ at the Machine

We should be cheering at sports events and screaming at politicians. But these days, it's vice versa. Now that ESPN's Screamin' Stephen A. Smith is acting like a pundit, things cou...

Sep 26, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Dave Zirin

Dead Flowers Dead Flowers

Reviews of Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia and Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy.

Sep 20, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Father Knows Best Father Knows Best

Have you attacked the Founding Fathers lately? Know anyone who has? Gordon Wood knows you're out there, on a campaign to dehumanize Washington, Jefferson and their peers.

Sep 20, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Nicholas Guyatt

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