Books and Ideas

James Purdy, 1957.

James Purdy’s Chronicles of Outsiderdom James Purdy’s Chronicles of Outsiderdom

His fiction, which ranged from slapstick humor to sheer terror, fixated on the lives of those society discarded.

Sep 19, 2023 / Books & the Arts / John Lingan

Lauren Boebert points toward the crowd onstage

Lauren Boebert Is Not the Only Republican Ruining Musicals Lauren Boebert Is Not the Only Republican Ruining Musicals

How failed theater kids are destroying a great art form—and American politics.

Sep 18, 2023 / Jeet Heer

Copyright © 2023 Chantal Montellier

Chantal Montellier’s Prescient Dystopias Chantal Montellier’s Prescient Dystopias

A new volume collects the pioneering French comic artist's work.

Sep 18, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Laila Lalami

Senator Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney's Lonely Exit Mitt Romney's Lonely Exit

The former GOP presidential nominee is now a pariah in his own party.

Sep 15, 2023 / Jeet Heer

How Stephen A. Smith Got His Revenge

How Stephen A. Smith Got His Revenge How Stephen A. Smith Got His Revenge

His memoir, Straight Shooter—a reflection on his life, his victories, and his defeats—gives an inside look into how the ESPN personality remade sports journalism in his image.

Sep 14, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Zito Madu

A crime scene at Colorado College, 2004.

What Can True Crime Offer Us? What Can True Crime Offer Us?

Rebecca Makkai’s I Have Some Questions for You tries to understand popular culture's fixation on two lurid things: podcasts and murders.

Sep 13, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Bekah Waalkes

Kate Zambreno’s Lessons in Looking

Kate Zambreno’s Lessons in Looking Kate Zambreno’s Lessons in Looking

A conversation about how the pandemic changed our relationship to the natural world, distrusting beauty, the challenges of writing about climate change, and her new book, The Ligh...

Sep 12, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Larissa Pham

Two Senators: Isabel Allende (left) with U.S. Senator Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during her visit to Chile last month.

Exclusive: With My Father, Salvador Allende, in His Final Hours Exclusive: With My Father, Salvador Allende, in His Final Hours

An excerpt from 11 de Septiembre: Esa semana (11th of September: That Week)

Sep 11, 2023 / Isabel Allende Bussi

An office parking lot in Walnut Creek, Calif., 2017.

The Tyranny of the Parking Lot The Tyranny of the Parking Lot

Finding space for cars has remade the built world. A new history uncovers just how much our lives revolve around parking.

Sep 7, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Ben Furnas

Jewish children in the Soviet Union’s youth movement in Minsk.

The Saga of the Pale and Soviet Jews The Saga of the Pale and Soviet Jews

The trials and tribulations of a tumultuous period.

Sep 6, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Bela Shayevich

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