Books and Ideas

Lenin, Trotzky and Gorky Lenin, Trotzky and Gorky

"I went to Russia believing myself a communist, but contact with those who have no doubts has intensified a thousandfold my own doubts...of every creed so firmly held that for its ...

Feb 20, 2008 / Feature / Bertrand Russell

The History of Hope The History of Hope

Voters drawn to Barack Obama are often criticized as naive. But appeals to our collective hope for a more decent society are core to the American experience.

Feb 20, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Peter Dreier

The Film We Dreamed The Film We Dreamed

In Zeroville, Steve Erickson explores New Hollywood's promise and doom and the dissolution of cinema into spectacle.

Feb 19, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Charles Taylor

Revolutionary States Revolutionary States

Two new books take a closer look at the "Soviet monster" in an age of lazy, anti-Communist rhetoric.

Feb 14, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Ronald Grigor Suny

Chafee Chastened Chafee Chastened

In his recent memoir, former GOP insider Lincoln Chafee boldly decries the Bush era.

Feb 14, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Eyal Press

Glad to See the Back of Him Glad to See the Back of Him

One candidate we will not miss.

Feb 14, 2008 / Column / Calvin Trillin

The Ice Forge The Ice Forge

The generation that came of age in Stalin's Russia was torn between perpetual fear and profound emotional investment in the Soviet ideal.

Feb 13, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Jochen Hellbeck

An Unconventional Convention An Unconventional Convention

On Saturday, June 27, 1924, "men and women suddenly rose up after days of utterly degraded and demoralizing vaudeville performances to declaim with passion about two big subjects....

Feb 12, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Oswald Garrison Villard

Green Days Green Days

The biography of Joschka Fischer tells the story of postwar Germany.

Feb 7, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Anson Rabinbach

Foes Foes

J.M. Coetzee, now out with a new novel and a collection of essays, reminds us what a master he is at turning life into narrative.

Feb 7, 2008 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz

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