Books and Ideas

The Brilliant Discontents of Lou Reed

The Brilliant Discontents of Lou Reed The Brilliant Discontents of Lou Reed

A new biography examines the enigma of the musician.

Jan 23, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Sasha Frere-Jones

Niels Vodder display wtih furniture designed by Finn Juhl, Cabinetmakers Guild Exhibition, 1949.

How Did Americans Come to Love “Mid-Century Modern”? How Did Americans Come to Love “Mid-Century Modern”?

Solving the riddle of America’s obsession with postwar design and furniture.

Jan 23, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Marianela D’Aprile

Nikki Haley talks to a group of people while campaigning in New Hampshire.

Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy Can’t Escape GOP Racism Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy Can’t Escape GOP Racism

The two presidential candidates are boxed in by the bigotry they deny exists.

Jan 19, 2024 / Jeet Heer

Palestinians in a destroyed residential area try to collect usable items under the rubble.

Israel’s Vietnam—and Ours Israel’s Vietnam—and Ours

Everything that Israel is doing to the people of Gaza—especially killing civilians through intensive aerial bombardment—was prefigured during the American “ground war” in Vietnam....

Jan 18, 2024 / Van Gosse

Nazi salute by Friends of New Germany at Madison Square Garden.

What Is the History of Fascism in the United States? What Is the History of Fascism in the United States?

In Fascism Comes to America, Bruce Kuklick traces the shifting meanings of the term “fascist” from its origins to the present day and how it has, over the years, gradually lost it...

Jan 17, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Richard J. Evans

Wendy Brown: A Conversation on Our “Nihilistic” Age

Wendy Brown: A Conversation on Our “Nihilistic” Age Wendy Brown: A Conversation on Our “Nihilistic” Age

The Nation spoke with the political theorist about the multifront crisis of the post-Trump era and the moral and intellectual commitments of scholars and higher education.

Jan 10, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins

Extracting heroin from poppies on April 10, 1978, in Los Angeles, Calif.

A Metaphysical Memoir of Heroin A Metaphysical Memoir of Heroin

Michael Clune’s White Out is among the most intense and intellectually thrilling books on opiate addiction.

Jan 8, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Kolitz

“Night,” 1897.

Susan Taubes’s Uncanny Chronicles of Domestic Hell Susan Taubes’s Uncanny Chronicles of Domestic Hell

Her previously unreleased fiction—a novella and short stories—in Lament for Julia peek into the banal and nightmarish travails of married life.

Jan 4, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Kathy Chow

A child eats amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following Israeli bombardment in Rafah on the southern Gaza Strip on December 29, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

A Palestinian Whose Childhood Was Destroyed by War Pleads for Peace A Palestinian Whose Childhood Was Destroyed by War Pleads for Peace

Never letting children endure war again is the “never again” that might actually heal our wounded humanity.

Jan 3, 2024 / Ibtisam Barakat

Downtown Jakarta, 2006.

Norman Erikson Pasaribu’s Portrait of Gay Indonesia Norman Erikson Pasaribu’s Portrait of Gay Indonesia

In, Happy Stories, Mostly, a collection of short stories, the complexities of queer life in the Southeast Asian country come into focus.

Dec 28, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Bryony Lau

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