Books and Ideas

Naipaul’s Darkness: Patrick French’s ‘The World Is What It Is’ Naipaul’s Darkness: Patrick French’s ‘The World Is What It Is’

Biographer Patrick French offers a vivid, sometimes enthralling portrait of a deeply enigmatic writer.

Nov 19, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Scott Sherman

Stewartsville: George R. Stewart’s Names on the Land Stewartsville: George R. Stewart’s Names on the Land

What possessed the fierce individualist George R. Stewart to compile a history of place-naming in the United States?

Nov 19, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Christine Smallwood

Alone Among the Ghosts: Roberto Bolano’s ‘2666’ Alone Among the Ghosts: Roberto Bolano’s ‘2666’

Roberto Bolaño's last novel, 2666, is his most profound exploration of art and infamy, craft and crime, the writer and the totalitarian state.

Nov 19, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Marcela Valdes

Obama Reaches Out to Former Foes Obama Reaches Out to Former Foes

Team of rivals for the twenty-first century.

Nov 19, 2008 / Column / Calvin Trillin

Saturday Night Live’s Biden Blunder Scale Saturday Night Live’s Biden Blunder Scale

You don't think Joe Biden can give a train-wreck interview with Katie Couric? Just name the time and the place and he will bring the train.

Nov 17, 2008 / Saturday Night Live

The Vietnam Exposé That Wasn’t The Vietnam Exposé That Wasn’t

The untold story of US-perpetrated atrocities in Vietnam and how the press killed it.

Nov 13, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Nick Turse

Out of Africa: The Traps of Safari Journalism Out of Africa: The Traps of Safari Journalism

Two new books by African writers share many flaws with their Western predecessors.

Nov 13, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Fatin Abbas

City of Shards: The Novels of Elias Khoury City of Shards: The Novels of Elias Khoury

Elias Khoury and the literature of witness.

Nov 13, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Siddhartha Deb

Obama Needs a Protest Movement Obama Needs a Protest Movement

A grassroots push for reform can make Obama a great president.

Nov 13, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Frances Fox Piven

A My Lai a Month A My Lai a Month

In Operation Speedy Express, new evidence of civilian slaughter and cover-up in Vietnam.

Nov 13, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Nick Turse

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