Books & the Arts

Nation Poetry

We Came Here to Get Away From You We Came Here to Get Away From You

Port Townsend, Washington Downhill, a skeleton of an orca suspended: a female beached; belly full, at that time, of seal and fish; the seal and fish full, at that time of poison. T…

Oct 19, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Donika Kelly

Nation Poetry

In the New Year In the New Year

Sun on my face and the train slips into the tunnel. Dim reflection confronts. Perhaps I am lacking in something substantial like iron, or virtue. How easy it is to hurt someone, ho…

Oct 19, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Natasha Rao

“Gossip Girl” and the Demented Culture of Fame

“Gossip Girl” and the Demented Culture of Fame “Gossip Girl” and the Demented Culture of Fame

HBO’s reboot of the teen drama explores how the rich and famous make their lives consumable for the rest of us.

Oct 19, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Erin Schwartz

Jonathan Franzen’s God

Jonathan Franzen’s God Jonathan Franzen’s God

A multigenerational saga about a Midwestern family, Crossroads is like most of Franzen novels—with one exception: Every plotline leads to the big guy himself.

Oct 18, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Rumaan Alam

New York City’s State of Permanent Crisis

New York City’s State of Permanent Crisis New York City’s State of Permanent Crisis

How New Yorkers trying to ward off catastrophe paved the road to the privatized city.

Oct 14, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Nick Juravich

The Unsure State of Asian America

The Unsure State of Asian America The Unsure State of Asian America

A conversation with Jay Caspian Kang about how the term “Asian American” became “mostly meaningless.”

Oct 13, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Rosemarie Ho

Virginie Despentes’s Philosophy of Rage

Virginie Despentes’s Philosophy of Rage Virginie Despentes’s Philosophy of Rage

Her manifesto King Kong Theory presents a seductive yet contradictory vision of feminism.

Oct 12, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Dilara O’Neil

Someone Else’s Discomfort: On Gregg Bordowitz

Someone Else’s Discomfort: On Gregg Bordowitz Someone Else’s Discomfort: On Gregg Bordowitz

How the writer, artist, and activist exposes what is fraught in masculinity.

Oct 11, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Hua Hsu

The Grotesque and Sublime Transformations of “Titane”

The Grotesque and Sublime Transformations of “Titane” The Grotesque and Sublime Transformations of “Titane”

Julia Ducournau’s surreal horror film is a harrowing exploration of the body and technology.

Oct 7, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Phoebe Chen

US history: Civil War: Emancipation Proclamation

Did the Constitution Pave the Way to Emancipation? Did the Constitution Pave the Way to Emancipation?

In his new book, The Crooked Path to Abolition, James Oakes argues that the Constitution was an antislavery document.

Oct 6, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Richard Kreitner

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