Books and Ideas

How Did We Get Here?

How Did We Get Here? How Did We Get Here?

Three new books by prominent liberal intellectuals—Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson’s Let Them Eat Tweets, Robert B. Reich’s The System, and Robert P. Saldin and Steven M. Teles’s ...

Oct 19, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Nicholas Lemann

How Did American Cities Become So Unequal?

How Did American Cities Become So Unequal? How Did American Cities Become So Unequal?

A new history of Ed Logue and his vision of urban renewal documents the broken promises of midcentury liberalism.

Oct 19, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Kim Phillips-Fein

Synthesizing Sound and Self

Synthesizing Sound and Self Synthesizing Sound and Self

The vexed legacy of electronic music pioneer Wendy Carlos.

Oct 15, 2020 / Sasha Geffen

UNCOUNTED, a Memorial for People Killed by Law Enforcement Officers

UNCOUNTED, a Memorial for People Killed by Law Enforcement Officers UNCOUNTED, a Memorial for People Killed by Law Enforcement Officers

Countless men, women, and children have been killed at the hands of US law enforcement officers. Breonna Taylor was murdered by Louisville police on March 13, 2020, and recently he...

Oct 13, 2020 / OppArt / Coco Howard

One Weird Trick for Destroying the Digital Economy

One Weird Trick for Destroying the Digital Economy One Weird Trick for Destroying the Digital Economy

Tim Hwang thinks we should burst the bubble of the ad-supported internet before it’s too late.

Oct 13, 2020 / Q&A / Marie Solis

Stanley Crouch, 1945–2020

Stanley Crouch, 1945–2020 Stanley Crouch, 1945–2020

Even many of those who at times wanted to throttle Crouch will miss him now that he’s gone.

Oct 12, 2020 / Gene Seymour

Two activists with painted faces stand, holding a sign that reads

The Hardest Thing About the Green New Deal The Hardest Thing About the Green New Deal

Three new books raise the question: What does global solidarity look like at this late hour?

Oct 12, 2020 / Wen Stephenson

Tom Tomorrow cartoon

We’re Living in a Simulation We’re Living in a Simulation

Someone’s making all of this up, right?

Oct 8, 2020 / Tom Tomorrow

John Luther Adams’s Songs for a Vanished World

John Luther Adams’s Songs for a Vanished World John Luther Adams’s Songs for a Vanished World

A conversation, conducted via satellite phone, with the legendary composer about his new memoir, Silences So Deep, and the music of his life.

Oct 7, 2020 / Rumaan Alam

Trump wearing a mask

Why Trump Doesn’t Wear a Mask Why Trump Doesn’t Wear a Mask

“As any woman can tell you, the masks smear makeup. The president is afraid of makeup stains on his mask and unsightly smears on his photographed face.” —letter to The New York Ti…

Oct 6, 2020 / Column / Calvin Trillin

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