Books and Ideas

Language Is a ‘War Zone’: A Conversation With Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o

Language Is a ‘War Zone’: A Conversation With Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o Language Is a ‘War Zone’: A Conversation With Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o

The Kenyan author discusses colonialism and abandoning English to write in his native Kikuyu.

Mar 9, 2018 / Q&A / Rohit Inani

Letters Icon

Letters From the April 2, 2018, Issue Letters From the April 2, 2018, Issue

No magazine is an island… Never mind Armageddon… Executive dysfunction… Behold the nothing that is…

Mar 8, 2018 / Our Readers

Jared Kushner, White House Real-Estate Developer

Jared Kushner, White House Real-Estate Developer Jared Kushner, White House Real-Estate Developer

Young Jared Kushner thought that he could mix His job with getting cash for 666. (That debt-stuffed building on the River Styx Was not among his most inspired picks.) It looks as i…

Mar 8, 2018 / Column / Calvin Trillin

Waiting for Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment

Waiting for Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Waiting for Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment

The genre that Pinker’s latest book most closely resembles is not 18th-century philosophie but a TED Talk.

Mar 7, 2018 / Books & the Arts / David A. Bell

Zadie Smith’s Dream City

Zadie Smith’s Dream City Zadie Smith’s Dream City

In a moment when ideological surety is the order of the day, Feel Free asks us to remember that another mode of thought is possible.

Mar 6, 2018 / Books & the Arts / Ismail Muhammad

Tom Tomorrow cartoon

Where do Newspaper Columnists Get Their Facts? Where do Newspaper Columnists Get Their Facts?

If it’s wrong, that’s just your opinion.

Mar 6, 2018 / Tom Tomorrow

‘Its Painful to Experience Your Own Defeat’

‘Its Painful to Experience Your Own Defeat’ ‘Its Painful to Experience Your Own Defeat’

Tahrir Square, seven years on.

Mar 5, 2018 / Pierre Daum

Tom Tomorrow cartoon

6 New Ways to Deflect From Gun Control! 6 New Ways to Deflect From Gun Control!

Conservatives grapple wildly with another mass shooting.

Feb 27, 2018 / Tom Tomorrow

Natural-Born Bards

Natural-Born Bards Natural-Born Bards

A new volume collects African-American folk tales that foreshadow contemporary debates about cultural ownership and appropriation.

Feb 23, 2018 / Aaron Robertson

Libraries Are a Space Where Everyone Belongs

Libraries Are a Space Where Everyone Belongs Libraries Are a Space Where Everyone Belongs

No wonder the Trump administration is gunning for them.

Feb 23, 2018 / Feature / Sue Halpern

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