Books & the Arts

Gangs of Shanghai Gangs of Shanghai

The scene is Shanghai, or Busby Berkeley's dream of it: a Chinese city of the 1930s, teeming on the outskirts with rickety tenement compounds, bustling in its business district...

Mar 31, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

All the World Is Green All the World Is Green

"Social Security is the soft underbelly," says right-wing activist Stephen Moore.

Mar 31, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Mike Wallace

Quartet for the End of Time Quartet for the End of Time

When David Spencer Ware was a baby, his mother pronounced a blessing over him. Go See the World became the title of the saxophonist's first major-label record, for Columbia.

Mar 24, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Brian Morton

Dreams and Delusions Dreams and Delusions

California inspires people to think big, and to write big books. Take, for example, Kevin Starr.

Mar 24, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Jon Wiener

The Imagination of Disaster The Imagination of Disaster

Saturday begins with its main character, Henry Perowne, getting out of bed because he's unable to sleep and going to stand by an open window.

Mar 24, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Lee Siegel

Patriotism Is Nonpartisan Patriotism Is Nonpartisan

Challenging a mistaken war can take more courage than fighting one.

Mar 24, 2005 / Books & the Arts / George McGovern

It’s Easter: He Is Recut It’s Easter: He Is Recut

No flaying below the belt: That's the guiding principle behind the kinder, gentler version of Mel Gibson's biblical blood fest, which has hit the cineplex in time for the Easter ...

Mar 24, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Richard Goldstein

Tipsy Turvy Tipsy Turvy

Like a melodrama or a political tract--genres it sometimes resembles, in an honorable way--Jonathan Nossiter's documentary Mondovino has a villain you can hiss at.

Mar 16, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Continental Drift Continental Drift

To an American, Europe is a cautionary tale.

Mar 16, 2005 / Books & the Arts / D.D. Guttenplan

Finding Neverland Finding Neverland

At this writing, the first prosecution witnesses have begun testimony in the case of People v. Michael Joe Jackson.

Mar 16, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Jody Rosen

x