What “Passing” Can Still Teach Us About Identity What “Passing” Can Still Teach Us About Identity
A film adaptation of Nella Larsen’s novel dramatizes the mercurial and sometimes dangerous consequences of a person's performance of self in the public.
Nov 4, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Elias Rodriques
Why Mike Nichols Was the Egalitarian Auteur Why Mike Nichols Was the Egalitarian Auteur
Mark Harris’s biography of the filmmaker shows that one cannot be an auteur without some help.
Nov 3, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Lindsay Zoladz
Francisco Goldman’s Altered States Francisco Goldman’s Altered States
In his new novel, Goldman asks readers to question the very essence of how we define ourselves.
Nov 2, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Ed Morales
The History of the United States as the History of Capitalism The History of the United States as the History of Capitalism
What gets lost when we view the American past as primarily a story about capitalism?
Nov 1, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Steven Hahn
The Moral and Magical Political Fictions of Carolina de Robertis The Moral and Magical Political Fictions of Carolina de Robertis
The Uruguayan American novelist’s The President and the Frog asks us to consider: What does it mean to be a good political actor?
Oct 29, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Lily Meyer
How the Hell Do We Fix the Creative Writing Workshop? How the Hell Do We Fix the Creative Writing Workshop?
Matthew Salesses’s Craft in the Real World proposes a new way to educate young writers without the baggage of the often biased and bland MFA pedagogy.
Oct 27, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Jennifer Schaffer-Goddard
The Short, Quixotic History of North Korean Internationalism The Short, Quixotic History of North Korean Internationalism
Benjamin R. Young’s Guns, Guerillas, and the Great Leader explores how the country turned to isolationism after a failed influence campaign in the mid 20th century.
Oct 26, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Brian Ng
Richard Powers’s Radical Parenting Lessons Richard Powers’s Radical Parenting Lessons
His new novel Bewilderment examines the challenges of raising a child in a slowly dying world.
Oct 25, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Joshua Adams
John Keats’s Politics of Pain and Renewal John Keats’s Politics of Pain and Renewal
Anahid Nersessian offers a radical and unforgettable reading of the British writer’s odes—one that upends our sense of his poetic project.
Oct 21, 2021 / Books & the Arts / David B. Hobbs
“Squid Game”’s Capitalist Parables “Squid Game”’s Capitalist Parables
Netflix’s breakout series depicts a world of violent and macabre individualism and desperation.
Oct 20, 2021 / Books & the Arts / E. Tammy Kim