Shakespeare’s Contentious Conversation With America Shakespeare’s Contentious Conversation With America
James Shapiro’s recent book looks at why Shakespeare has been a mainstay of the cultural and political conflicts of the country since its founding.
Dec 17, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Alisa Solomon
The Blinding Clarity of John Le Carré The Blinding Clarity of John Le Carré
His novels of imperial decline speak to a world that has remained at war since his youth.
Dec 17, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Siddhartha Deb
Lost Voices, Muffled Histories, Piano Notes: The Poetry of Thulani Davis Lost Voices, Muffled Histories, Piano Notes: The Poetry of Thulani Davis
A new anthology of her writing, Nothing but the Music, tells the story of her thrilling body of work.
Dec 16, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Tobi Haslett
How has Religious Experience Changed in a Secular Age? How has Religious Experience Changed in a Secular Age?
A new book by Tara Isabella Burton explores how people are infusing new cultural forms with quasi-religious meaning.
Dec 15, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow
Theodor Adorno and the Crises of Liberalism Theodor Adorno and the Crises of Liberalism
At the center of Adorno’s work was a reminder that fascist movements are not exceptional to liberal democracy but signs of its failure.
Dec 15, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Peter E. Gordon
Serenade Behind a Floating Stage Serenade Behind a Floating Stage
N…
Dec 15, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Shangyang Fang
How Did We End Up With Our Current Public Defender System? How Did We End Up With Our Current Public Defender System?
Sara Mayeux’s new history highlights how without a more fundamental transformation of criminal law, public defenders often provide only a limited form of equality and fairness befo...
Dec 14, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Matthew Clair
The Vanishing Queer Underground of Los Angeles The Vanishing Queer Underground of Los Angeles
Reynaldo Rivera’s photos of the city's nightlife document a time of cheap rent and possibility.
Dec 10, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Kate Wolf
How Rural China Became an Engine for Global Consumer Capitalism How Rural China Became an Engine for Global Consumer Capitalism
Xiaowei Wang’s Blockchain Chicken Farm surveys the tech industry in the Chinese countryside to upend the way we talk about the Internet in the West.
Dec 9, 2020 / Books & the Arts / A.Y. Li
A Salacious Press, an Unchecked Government: Heinrich Böll’s Prescient Fiction A Salacious Press, an Unchecked Government: Heinrich Böll’s Prescient Fiction
A 1975 film adaptation of his novel The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum looks how fragile freedom is under democracy.
Dec 8, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Phoebe Chen