Biography

Another ‘October Surprise’ Another ‘October Surprise’

Poor Anthony Summers--he writes a 600-page book on Nixon based on massive and exhaustive research, including interviews with a thousand people and 120 pages of documentation--and...

Oct 19, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Jon Wiener

The Devil and Mr. Hearst The Devil and Mr. Hearst

William Randolph Hearst is one of those people we all know was very, very famous but are never quite sure why, or what we are to think of him.

Jun 22, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Dana Frank

The Devil in Mr. Marx The Devil in Mr. Marx

At a quarter to 3 in the afternoon on March 14, 1883, one of the world's brainiest men, Karl Marx, ceased to think. He passed away peacefully in his favorite armchair.

Jun 22, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Andy Merrifield

Prince Albert in a Can Prince Albert in a Can

What's the meaning of Al Gore? Or George Bush?

Jun 8, 2000 / Books & the Arts / David Corn

McCullers: Canon Fodder? McCullers: Canon Fodder?

What makes an American writer? In today's narrow, backlashed literary market the chain of command is quite clear. The "greats" are Updike, Pynchon, Mailer, Bellow and Roth.

Jun 8, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Sarah Schulman

Harrington’s Dilemma Harrington’s Dilemma

Maurice Isserman's The Other American: The Life of Michael Harrington evokes and will enrich the legacy of the last great American socialist in the tradition of Eugene Debs and N...

May 25, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Tom Hayden

The Compleat Walker The Compleat Walker

Shortly before he died, Bruce Chatwin found God. This was on top of Mount Athos, after which he left for Katmandu. Looking down from the bees and grapes, he had seen an iron cros...

Apr 13, 2000 / Books & the Arts / John Leonard

Reparting the Waters Reparting the Waters

It is delightfully ironic that a site has been approved for the construction of a monument in Martin Luther King Jr.'s name on the Washington Mall, given that in the last months ...

Apr 13, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Jason Sokol

The ‘Casanova of Causes’ The ‘Casanova of Causes’

To her biographer, Simone de Beauvoir confided a less than rhapsodic one-night stand, in 1946, with the Hungarian malcontent Arthur Koestler: "One night I got so drunk I let him ...

Mar 22, 2000 / Books & the Arts / John Leonard

Bobby, He Hardly Knew Ye Bobby, He Hardly Knew Ye

Robert Scheer was the last journalist to interview Robert Kennedy.

Feb 3, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Robert Scheer

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