Books and Ideas

Elaine May poses for a portrait in a bowling alley in New York City, 1961.

The Irrepressible Elaine May The Irrepressible Elaine May

Her films reveled in the possibility of capturing the spontaneous beauty of improvisation.

Oct 21, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Alex Kong

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance speaks to supporters during a campaign event in Traverse City, Michigan.

JD Vance Shows That the Future of the GOP Is in Racist Conspiracy Theories JD Vance Shows That the Future of the GOP Is in Racist Conspiracy Theories

Trump’s deluded fantasies have now become the GOP gospel.

Oct 18, 2024 / Jeet Heer

Vintage illustration of a couple in bed adjusting their futuristic home automation system; screen print, 1955.

The Crisis in the Care Economy The Crisis in the Care Economy

How was care commodified? And what has that meant for an undervalued but increasingly important workforce.

Oct 16, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Maia Silber

German Jewish refugees looking through portholes aboard an ocean liner arriving in Antwerp, 1939.

What the Jewish History of Exile Means Now What the Jewish History of Exile Means Now

A recent book on Jewish identity before and after Zionism shows the limitations of a progressive critique that doesn't truly account for the experience of Palestinians.

Oct 14, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Eli Rudavsky

Nation Poetry

FIGURE EIGHT FIGURE EIGHT

Oct 14, 2024 / Poems / Daniel Moysaenko

Anna Nordlander, “Sami Woman and her Child” (1870s).

A Swedish Poet Comes Face to Face With the Epic A Swedish Poet Comes Face to Face With the Epic

Sámi writer Linnea Axelsson’s AEdnan uses the ancient form to critique Sweden’s historical mistreatment of its indigenous people.

Oct 10, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Rebecca Ariel Porte

Alba de Céspedes’s Marriage Plot Polemic

Alba de Céspedes’s Marriage Plot Polemic Alba de Céspedes’s Marriage Plot Polemic

In the Cuban-Italian novelist’s Her Side of the Story, she confronts the falsity of romantic love.

Oct 9, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Rachel Vorona Cote

A photograph of Sylvia Plath on her grave at St Thomas A. Beckett churchyard, Heptonstall, West Yorkshire, 2011.

The Silencing of Sylvia Plath The Silencing of Sylvia Plath

In Emily Van Duyne’s Loving Sylvia Plath she asks if we can fully understand the poet’s work without understanding her abusive marriage to Ted Hughes.

Oct 8, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Lynne Feeley

Nation Poetry

Payee Payee

Oct 7, 2024 / Poems / Jessica Abughattas

A close-up photo of Fredric Jameson smiling in front of a microphone.

Fredric Jameson Named the System We Are Still Fighting Fredric Jameson Named the System We Are Still Fighting

The late literary critic revitalized Marxism to critique our postmodern and globalized reality.

Oct 3, 2024 / Obituary / Jeet Heer

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