Bad Will Hunting Bad Will Hunting
Two new books on Shakespeare examine his shadowy life, his times and the origins of his imagination. A third explores whether the Bard of Avon was, in fact, Edward de Vere.
Feb 28, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Swift
The March of Progress The March of Progress
A comparative list of how our cultural life has changed in the progression from the modern age to the postmodern.
Feb 26, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Norman Mailer
The Candidate The Candidate
James Carville peddles democracy in Bolivia in Our Brand Is Crisis, and anti-Nazi passions play out in Sophie Scholl: The Last Days.
Feb 23, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Compromising Positions Compromising Positions
Richard Schickel's biography of Elia Kazan is a laudatory postscript to a life marked by social turmoil, political strife and artistic intensity.
Feb 23, 2006 / Books & the Arts / David Bromwich
Alice Walton’s Fig Leaf Alice Walton’s Fig Leaf
Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton is on a buying spree, filling her Arkansas museum with America's cultural treasures--a fig leaf that seeks to cover Wal-Mart's naked greed and exploit...
Feb 21, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Rebecca Solnit
The Man Who Heard It All The Man Who Heard It All
Richard Taruskin's Oxford History of Western Music reviews the world of Western art music, expressing the magnificence and melancholy of its own age.
Feb 16, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Paul Griffiths
A Touch of Evil A Touch of Evil
Reviews of The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Battle in Heaven, Blossoms of Fire and The Fallen Idol.
Feb 9, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
The Color of Money The Color of Money
Four new books explore the politics, culture and racial awareness of the hip-hop generation.
Feb 9, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Greg Tate
A Second-Line Revival A Second-Line Revival
Storm-whipped New Orleanians returned to the city to join a joyful second-line parade, a revival of music that made real the triumph of the city's spirit.
Jan 25, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Billy Sothern
The Unquiet American The Unquiet American
Reviews of Why We Fight, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World and Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story.
Jan 25, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans