Books and Ideas

Eric Williams and the Tangled History of Capitalism and Slavery

Eric Williams and the Tangled History of Capitalism and Slavery Eric Williams and the Tangled History of Capitalism and Slavery

The historian and politician helped transform how several generations understood 18th- and 19th-century history.

Oct 5, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Gerald Horne

Anthony Veasna So’s Portraits of Diaspora

Anthony Veasna So’s Portraits of Diaspora Anthony Veasna So’s Portraits of Diaspora

His posthumous collection Afterparties is part of a new wave of writing on the cultural memory and historical traumas of Southeast Asian immigrants. 

Oct 5, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Larissa Pham

Do We Need to Work?

Do We Need to Work? Do We Need to Work?

In Work: A Deep History, from the Stone Age to the Age of Robots, anthropologist James Suzman asks whether we might learn to live like our ancestors did—that is, to value free time...

Oct 4, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Aaron Benanav

Grace Cho’s Memoir of Food and Empire

Grace Cho’s Memoir of Food and Empire Grace Cho’s Memoir of Food and Empire

Intertwining a personal story of Korean food ways and a family history caught in the midst of violence, Tastes Like War tests the limits, and shows the power, of memoir.

Oct 4, 2021 / Books & the Arts / E. Tammy Kim

Was Jimmy Carter an Outlier?

Was Jimmy Carter an Outlier? Was Jimmy Carter an Outlier?

Politicians say things to get elected and then, once in office, do otherwise; that’s politics. But Carter demanded that we grade him on a curve.

Oct 4, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Rick Perlstein

Sally Rooney’s Fiction for End Times

Sally Rooney’s Fiction for End Times Sally Rooney’s Fiction for End Times

In her third novel, Rooney does more than just respond to critics; she surveys the wreckage of modern life.

Oct 4, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Tony Tulathimutte

Surprise for Arizona Senators

Surprise for Arizona Senators Surprise for Arizona Senators

Though they hired the firm Cyber Ninjas Just to show that Trump votes did surmount Those of Biden, it found the reverse. But who knew that a ninja can count?…

Oct 3, 2021 / Column / Calvin Trillin

Nation Poetry

The Holiness of Degradation The Holiness of Degradation

with a title and a line from Leslie Jamison Anne says, what if you are not sick or bad, what if you are Katie? I know I have to fuck the stories that are fucking me. I think about…

Sep 30, 2021 / Poems / Katie Schmid

Desire in Our Times: A Conversation With Amia Srinivasan

Desire in Our Times: A Conversation With Amia Srinivasan Desire in Our Times: A Conversation With Amia Srinivasan

An interview with the philosopher about her new book, The Right to Sex, the need for more internationalist feminism, the politics of consent, and much more.

Sep 30, 2021 / Q&A / Nawal Arjini

Fresco by an anonymous painter depicting 'The Triumph of Death'

A Novel Caught Between 2 Plagues A Novel Caught Between 2 Plagues

Looking at both the AIDS crisis and the Covid pandemic, Kate Zambreno’s To Write as if Already Dead grapples with how illness changes our conception of self.

Sep 29, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Jamie Hood

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