The Unfinished Evolution of Aziz Ansari The Unfinished Evolution of Aziz Ansari
With the latest season of Master of None, the comedian and director’s attempt at a reboot of his creative approach reveals the limits of his perspective.
Jun 23, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Vikram Murthi
Janet Malcolm’s Provocations Janet Malcolm’s Provocations
Her writing cut through propriety and pretentiousness and revealed us for who we are: desiring creatures, complicated and simple at once.
Jun 22, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Maggie Doherty
The United States’ First Civil Rights Movement The United States’ First Civil Rights Movement
A new history charts the radical agitation around Black rights and freedom back to the early nineteenth century.
Jun 16, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Kellie Carter Jackson
Joan Didion’s Long View Joan Didion’s Long View
Her new essay collection, Let Me Tell You What I Mean, captures what about her writing feels at once seductive and illusory.
Jun 15, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Haley Mlotek
Saying I Am a Survivor in Another Language Saying I Am a Survivor in Another Language
We are in the moment before we decide, for the first time, to have sex. We fill our mouths with salami and wine. I am careful, peeling wax paper off glazed sponge cake baked by nun…
Jun 15, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Taneum Bambrick
DISCOURSE ON WHY INMATES EXIT PRISON WORSE THAN WHEN THEY WENT IN DISCOURSE ON WHY INMATES EXIT PRISON WORSE THAN WHEN THEY WENT IN
Bet you thought there was no such thing as too kind. I can’t write it into this poem without admitting kindness is a synonym for “too close” when its nectared syllables sap these p…
Jun 15, 2021 / Books & the Arts / B Batchelor
Raoul Peck’s World Raoul Peck’s World
In Exterminate All the Brutes, Peck offers a bold new history of colonialism and violence.
Jun 14, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Ed Morales
The Unwritten History of Black Performance The Unwritten History of Black Performance
Poet and essayist Hanif Abdurraqib’s new book undertakes an ambitious task: contextualizing the scope and scale of a people’s cultural expression.
Jun 10, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Kelton Ellis
Behind the Hedonist Persona of Francis Bacon Behind the Hedonist Persona of Francis Bacon
Annalyn Swan and Mark Stevens’s comprehensive study of the British artist is a sensitive investigation into his artistic identity.
Jun 9, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Tausif Noor
The Anti-Nostalgia of Walker Evans The Anti-Nostalgia of Walker Evans
A recent biography reveals the many contradictions of the photographer who fastidiously documented postwar American life.
Jun 8, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Rahel Aima