Couplets Couplets
I became myself. I became myself. No, I always was myself. There’s no such person as myself. I wouldn’t have to turn my eye inward, I thought, if I could train my eye on him—the on…
Apr 19, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Maggie Millner
Cedric Robinson’s Radical Democracy Cedric Robinson’s Radical Democracy
Rejecting the resignation of the 1970s and ’80s, Robinson found hope and resistance in the ruins of the American city.
Apr 18, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Jared Loggins
Turning Theory Into Art Turning Theory Into Art
Anna Ostoya transforms Chantal Mouffe’s writing into collages, with the hope of making her ideas more available to the masses.
Apr 14, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Jonah Goldman Kay
Has Neoliberalism Really Come to an End? Has Neoliberalism Really Come to an End?
A conversation with historian Gary Gerstle about understanding neoliberalism as a bipartisan worldview and how the political order it ushered in has crumbled.
Apr 13, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins
The Absurdist Meets Jane Austen in Bloomington The Absurdist Meets Jane Austen in Bloomington
Budi Darma’s People from Bloomington engages in a strange realism—where life in a small-town America seems both banal and absurd.
Apr 12, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Intan Paramaditha
Emily St. John Mandel’s Neatly Designed Worlds Emily St. John Mandel’s Neatly Designed Worlds
Her new novel, a time travel story called Sea of Tranquility, presents a universe lacking in loose ends or messiness.
Apr 11, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Sophia Nguyen
The Hollow Narrative of HBO’s “Gilded Age” The Hollow Narrative of HBO’s “Gilded Age”
The TV show is guilty of the greatest crime any fiction about the 19th century can commit—not getting it wrong, but making it dull.
Apr 7, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Jake Bittle
How Can Puerto Rico Escape the Debt Trap? How Can Puerto Rico Escape the Debt Trap?
When it comes to Puerto Rico, the questions of debt haunt everyday life and shape the colonial reality of the island.
Apr 6, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Ed Morales
Home Movie Home Movie
Strewn across the floors their toys and things, a video cassette the dad had written “We used to have more of these” on, the kitchen in a state of high party, boxed cakes half eate…
Apr 5, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Jana Prikryl
Green Tomatoes in Fire Season Green Tomatoes in Fire Season
There is smoke in the air when I go pick them. I go despite panic, also because inside I’ll make chutney. For an hour or so, I unlatch them. It is late fall. They will not ripen. F…
Apr 5, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Tess Taylor