Books & the Arts

74,000 Acres of Forest Burning

74,000 Acres of Forest Burning 74,000 Acres of Forest Burning

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Nov 3, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Ellen Bass

Michael Apted’s Flawed but Brilliant Epic of British Social Life

Michael Apted’s Flawed but Brilliant Epic of British Social Life Michael Apted’s Flawed but Brilliant Epic of British Social Life

The Up series was meant to investigate inequities of British class. It also ended up telling a different story as well.

Nov 2, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Susan Pedersen

Hari Kunzru’s Internet Thriller

Hari Kunzru’s Internet Thriller Hari Kunzru’s Internet Thriller

Hari Kunzru’s ambitious new novel Red Pill plumbs the depth of right-wing and liberal ideas as it tracks one man’s descent into a web-induced mania. 

Nov 2, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Kevin Lozano

A Soundscape of Pure Empathy

A Soundscape of Pure Empathy A Soundscape of Pure Empathy

Kelly Lee Owens’s quietly complex electronic music is defined by its spirit of care.

Oct 27, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Julyssa Lopez

How Did American Cities Become So Unequal?

How Did American Cities Become So Unequal? How Did American Cities Become So Unequal?

A new history of Ed Logue and his vision of urban renewal documents the broken promises of midcentury liberalism.

Oct 19, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Kim Phillips-Fein

How Did We Get Here?

How Did We Get Here? How Did We Get Here?

Three new books by prominent liberal intellectuals—Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson’s Let Them Eat Tweets, Robert B. Reich’s The System, and Robert P. Saldin and Steven M. Teles’s ...

Oct 19, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Nicholas Lemann

Yaa Gyasi’s Family Chronicle

Yaa Gyasi’s Family Chronicle Yaa Gyasi’s Family Chronicle

At the center of Gyasi's new novel are the unspoken bonds and tensions between mothers and daughters.

Oct 6, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Lovia Gyarkye

America’s Unending Struggle Between Oligarchy and Democracy

America’s Unending Struggle Between Oligarchy and Democracy America’s Unending Struggle Between Oligarchy and Democracy

A new history charts the three-centuries long contest between elites seeking to uphold a racial and economic order that benefits them alone and the forces of democracy seeking to d...

Oct 6, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Manisha Sinha

Richard Hofstadter’s Discontents

Richard Hofstadter’s Discontents Richard Hofstadter’s Discontents

Why did the historian come to fear the very movements he once would have celebrated?

Oct 6, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Jeet Heer

Nicholson Baker’s Maddening Search for the Truth

Nicholson Baker’s Maddening Search for the Truth Nicholson Baker’s Maddening Search for the Truth

Denied access to files about the use of biological weapons during the Cold War, the novelist transformed his new book into a study of how America keeps its secrets.

Oct 6, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Charlie Savage

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