Books and Ideas

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Letters From the February 22/March 1, 2021, Issue Letters From the February 22/March 1, 2021, Issue

Overtures to Trump voters… Paging the Surgeon General… Post-progressive aid?… Seeing the work… Appreciating Alterman…

Feb 9, 2021 / Our Readers

Can the Novel Document the Present in Real Time?

Can the Novel Document the Present in Real Time? Can the Novel Document the Present in Real Time?

Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet is an experiment in novel writing that closely tracks and analyzes the news as it happens.

Feb 8, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Rumaan Alam

46 and Done: Why Joe Biden Should Be Our Last President

46 and Done: Why Joe Biden Should Be Our Last President 46 and Done: Why Joe Biden Should Be Our Last President

Parliamentary democracies give their citizens tuition-free college, state-subsidized child care, generous paid leave, socialized medicine. We get “Hail to the Chief.”

Feb 5, 2021 / Column / Alexis Grenell

Vaccine Shortage

Vaccine Shortage Vaccine Shortage

The impact of the shortage of Covid vaccines adds to the inequity in access and distribution.

Feb 4, 2021 / OppArt / Andrea Arroyo

Can a Novel Really Capture the Spirit of the Internet?

Can a Novel Really Capture the Spirit of the Internet? Can a Novel Really Capture the Spirit of the Internet?

Lauren Oyler’s Fake Accounts and the limits of literary fiction’s obsession with life online.

Feb 4, 2021 / Books & the Arts / David Schurman Wallace

Will We Ever Fully Understand Humans’ Impact on Nature?

Will We Ever Fully Understand Humans’ Impact on Nature? Will We Ever Fully Understand Humans’ Impact on Nature?

A conversation with Elizabeth Kolbert about her new book, efforts to “control the control of nature,” and how the climate beat has changed. 

Feb 3, 2021 / Q&A / Naomi Elias

Boy Corona

Boy Corona Boy Corona

after John Donne & for N. P.                       TENDER CROWN I have only these two hands with which to praise you, Bro…

Feb 3, 2021 / Poems / Meg Day

The Body, the State, the Border: On Cristina Rivera Garza

The Body, the State, the Border: On Cristina Rivera Garza The Body, the State, the Border: On Cristina Rivera Garza

Her fiction and essays illuminates how the language of violence is inherent to the disaster neoliberalism wrought in Mexico.

Feb 2, 2021 / Claire Mullen

Perverse and Unfair: The Radical Steps to Fix the Housing Crisis

Perverse and Unfair: The Radical Steps to Fix the Housing Crisis Perverse and Unfair: The Radical Steps to Fix the Housing Crisis

On the history of the single-family home in America, alternative modes of housing, and what it will take to fix the housing market.

Feb 1, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Marianela D’Aprile

Does Christopher Hitchens Need an Authorized Biography?

Does Christopher Hitchens Need an Authorized Biography? Does Christopher Hitchens Need an Authorized Biography?

Attempts by the former Nation columnist’s widow and literary agent to police a biography are both futile and short-sighted.

Jan 29, 2021 / Feature / David Nasaw

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