Books and Ideas

Marx for Our Times

Marx for Our Times Marx for Our Times

A new book explores the social democratic impulses and Jewish origins of Karl Marx.

Apr 19, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Bruce Robbins

B. Traven: Fiction’s Forgotten Radical

B. Traven: Fiction’s Forgotten Radical B. Traven: Fiction’s Forgotten Radical

The enigmatic author’s anarcho-communist politics seep into his novels about wage labor, class consciousness, and the violence of capital. 

Apr 14, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Clinton Williamson

Diorama of Manhattan at 1939 World's Fair

How ‘Things’ In Fiction Shape the Way We Read How ‘Things’ In Fiction Shape the Way We Read

Sarah Wasserman’s recent book looks at how the objects we take for granted in stories can reveal even deeper meaning.

Apr 13, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Sophie Haigney

Guston in his Woodstock studio

Philip Guston’s Peculiar History Lesson Philip Guston’s Peculiar History Lesson

On the painter’s politics of self-questioning.

Apr 12, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky

Nation Poetry

To Julia de Burgos To Julia de Burgos

Already people murmur I’m your enemy since they say that in verse I give the world to me. They lie, Julia de Burgos. They lie, Julia de Burgos. The one rising in my verses isn’t yo…

Apr 10, 2021 / Poems / Julia de Burgos and Ilan Stavans

Nation Poetry

Ann Arbor doesn’t need streetlights Ann Arbor doesn’t need streetlights

Black ass is obvious at 2:00AM on Geddes Avenue. Should I blame N my thighs, sheering denim to skin windows? Or these cornbread- N cultivated hips Clifton passed on to me that seem…

Apr 6, 2021 / Poems / Courtney Faye Taylor

Tom Tomorrow cartoon

Anti-Facts and Anti-Vaxx Anti-Facts and Anti-Vaxx

Why would I take the vaccine when I’ve already injected myself with bleach?

Apr 6, 2021 / Tom Tomorrow

capitol-siege-angeli-ap-img

Alternative Facts Alternative Facts

“It was zero threat.… Some of them went in, and they are hugging and kissing the police and the guards—you know, they had great relationships.” —Donald Trump on the January 6 riote…

Apr 6, 2021 / Column / Calvin Trillin

Benito Mussolini

Are We Living in an Age of Strongmen? Are We Living in an Age of Strongmen?

A new book by Ruth Ben-Ghiat discusses the past and present challenges posed by authoritarianism, but misses the social and economic conditions in which it arises.

Apr 6, 2021 / Books & the Arts / David A. Bell

Vernadette Vicuña Gonzalez

The General, the Mistress, and the Love Stories That Blind Us The General, the Mistress, and the Love Stories That Blind Us

Vernadette Vicuña Gonzalez discusses her new book on Isabel Cooper, a Filipina American actress and Douglas MacArthur’s lover.

Apr 5, 2021 / Q&A / Noah Flora

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