Books and Ideas

Who Is In Charge in the Biden White House?

Who Is In Charge in the Biden White House? Who Is In Charge in the Biden White House?

In The Last Politician, Franklin Foer offers a portrait of an administration at odds with itself. 

Mar 11, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Osita Nwanevu

Dune: Part Two

What’s Missing From “Dune: Part Two” What’s Missing From “Dune: Part Two”

While Frank Herbert’s original series was about the dangers of messianism, Denis Villeneuve’s rendition wields ambivalence like a secret weapon in its effort to avoid the tough qu...

Mar 8, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Jorge Cotte

Lyn Hejinian’s Counterlife

Lyn Hejinian’s Counterlife Lyn Hejinian’s Counterlife

The pioneering poet expanded the possibilities of both poetry and autobiographical writing.

Mar 7, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Ryan Ruby

The Enchanted Worlds of Marshall Sahlins

The Enchanted Worlds of Marshall Sahlins The Enchanted Worlds of Marshall Sahlins

What if we saw the study of ghosts, gods, and other metapersons as worthy of a science of its own?

Mar 6, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Anna Della Subin

Lisa Vanderpump and Tom Sandoval, of “Vanderpump Rules,” at Bravocon in Las Vegas, Nev., 2023.

Are Autofiction and Reality TV the Same? Are Autofiction and Reality TV the Same?

A conversation with the literary critic Anna Kornbluh on her new book Immediacy, a searing indictment of a newly prevalent aesthetic of verisimilitude and the first person.

Mar 4, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Lily Meyer

Nation Poetry

Night Watch Night Watch

Mar 4, 2024 / Poems / Catherine Barnett

Martin Baron announcing that he is leaving The Boston Globe to become the executive editor of The Washington Post.

What Happened to “The Washington Post” Under Marty Baron? What Happened to “The Washington Post” Under Marty Baron?

In a new book, the former editor tirelessly hymns how he and the newspaper protected their journalists and shored up the foundations of our crumbling republic. But was that the ca...

Feb 27, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Chris Lehmann

Scoop Jackson holding a model plane

Biden’s Cold War Nostalgia Is Dooming His Presidency Biden’s Cold War Nostalgia Is Dooming His Presidency

Missile scares and military Keynesianism won’t win voters who want domestic reform.

Feb 26, 2024 / Jeet Heer

A scene from About Dry Grasses.

The Genius of Nuri Bilge Ceylan The Genius of Nuri Bilge Ceylan

About Dry Grasses is long, dense, elliptical—and brilliant.

Feb 26, 2024 / Books & the Arts / A. S. Hamrah

Then–US President Donald Trump holds a Bible outside of St. John's Episcopal church in Washington, D.C., on June 1, 2020. Trump was due to make a televised address to the nation after days of protests against police brutality.

Hit Trump on Theocracy, Not Hypocrisy Hit Trump on Theocracy, Not Hypocrisy

The former president’s alliance with religious fanatics is a far bigger problem than his lack of piety.

Feb 23, 2024 / Jeet Heer

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