Books & the Arts

Rachel Kushner’s  Brilliant Avant-Garde Spy Thriller

Rachel Kushner’s Brilliant Avant-Garde Spy Thriller Rachel Kushner’s Brilliant Avant-Garde Spy Thriller

In Creation Lake, Kushner transforms the genre's familiar plot twists and turns into a study of the many fictions we tell one another.

Aug 27, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Nicolás Medina Mora

Then–US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifying before the Senate Budget Committee in 2009.

The Intractable Puzzle of Growth The Intractable Puzzle of Growth

For more than a century, the key measure of a healthy economy has been its capacity to grow and yet if production and consumption continues to expand at their current rate we migh...

Aug 26, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Benjamin Kunkel

Saddam Hussein and Mulla Mustafa al-Barzani, 1970.

The “Cascade of Errors” That Led to America’s War on Terror The “Cascade of Errors” That Led to America’s War on Terror

Steve Coll’s new book looks at the hubris and delusions of American foreign-policy makers and counterparts in the Middle East that led to a war that still haunts the globe.

Aug 22, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Lyle Jeremy Rubin

Guy Davenport, 1997.

Guy Davenport—the Last High Modernist Guy Davenport—the Last High Modernist

In the essays collected in Geography of the Imagination, one can glimpse the inner workings of the mind of a 20th-century literary genius.

Aug 21, 2024 / Books & the Arts / David Schurman Wallace

Percival Everett’s Great American Novel

Percival Everett’s Great American Novel Percival Everett’s Great American Novel

In his new novel James, Everett reminds us of the thorny absurdity that is U.S. history.

Aug 19, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Omari Weekes

Detail of Bundi School, 17th century, National Museum, New Delhi, India.

A Paean to Nonhuman Life A Paean to Nonhuman Life

In Lydia Millet’s We Loved It All, she compels readers to decenter human experience in the stories we tell about the natural world.

Aug 14, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Julia Case-Levine

American tennis star Althea Gibson hits a return shot to Colette Monnot during her singles match at the Surrey Grass Court Championship, held at the Surbiton Racket and Fitness Club.

Althea Gibson Let the Racquet Do the Talking Althea Gibson Let the Racquet Do the Talking

A recent biography of the complicated tennis legend underlines the sport’s persistent challenges with race, class, and celebrity.

Aug 13, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Alisa Solomon

Police in Baltimore, Maryland, 2015.

What Is Policing For? What Is Policing For?

Sociologist Michael Sierra-Arévalo’s recent book explains how an obsession with violence has defined the police’s purpose and worldview.

Aug 12, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Michael Friedrich

Helen Stephens winning the Women's 100m at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

The Trans Panic in Sports Is Nearly a Century Old The Trans Panic in Sports Is Nearly a Century Old

Michael Waters’s eye-opening history of gender and athletics in the lead-up to the 1936 Olympics reveals just how old this reactionary movement in athletics is.

Aug 8, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Ben Kesslen

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