Books & the Arts

Nation Poetry

Congo: Curriculum Vitae (excerpt) Congo: Curriculum Vitae (excerpt)

[When one of us goes] When one of us goes to the other world, we gather and weep so that the ocean of our tears may take the deceased to their final resting place. [The path of lif…

Dec 13, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Alain Mabanckou

Mall of America, 1992.

The Rise and Fall of the Mall The Rise and Fall of the Mall

Alexandra Lange's Meet Me by the Fountain recovers the forgotten past and the still hopeful future of the American shopping mall.

Dec 12, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Melvin Backman

Margo Jefferson and the Art of Life

Margo Jefferson and the Art of Life Margo Jefferson and the Art of Life

In her work, especially her new book Constructing a Nervous System, she transforms criticism into an experience one feels in the body, not just the mind.

Dec 9, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Kelton Ellis

Nation Poetry

Dawning Dawning

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Dec 8, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Dashaun Washington

The Melancholy Return of “Black Panther”

The Melancholy Return of “Black Panther” The Melancholy Return of “Black Panther”

After the death of Chadwick Boseman, the makers of the superhero movie had to reimagine the series. The result makes for a sobering and affecting sequel. 

Dec 8, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Stephen Kearse

The Myth of the Knicks

The Myth of the Knicks The Myth of the Knicks

In Chris Herring's recent history of the New York basketball team, we get a behind-the-scenes look at the sports commentariat's fixation on grit and toughness.

Dec 7, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Zito Madu

A New Kind of Trans Poetics

A New Kind of Trans Poetics A New Kind of Trans Poetics

In A Queen in Bucks County, Kay Gabriel finds a connection between trans femininity and modernism as she documents one person's winding journey from suburb to city.

Dec 6, 2022 / Books & the Arts / McKenzie Wark

The statue of the Confederate general Robert E. Lee is removed

The Question of the Offensive Monument The Question of the Offensive Monument

What do we lose by simply removing monuments? Robert Bevan attempts to answer that question in a recent book, Monumental Lies.

Dec 5, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Erin L. Thompson

The Polycrisis at the Border

The Polycrisis at the Border The Polycrisis at the Border

Levi Vonk’s Border Hacker digs into the intersecting failures that have led to a brutal system of forced displacement in the Americas.

Dec 1, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Caroline Tracey

What the Grimkes’s Family History Tells Us About the United States

What the Grimkes’s Family History Tells Us About the United States What the Grimkes’s Family History Tells Us About the United States

In The Grimkes, historian Kerri Greenidge offers a powerful and unique account of this family's history—an account that offers tales of slavery, violence, loss, resilience, and red...

Nov 30, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Kellie Carter Jackson

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