Books and Ideas

Dead Souls Dead Souls

Juan Rulfo's Pedro Páramo, written during the cultural renaissance that followed the Mexican Revolution, is a marvel of storytelling and testament to the power of the word.

May 18, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Carmen Boullosa

Reassurance on Phone Call Records… Reassurance on Phone Call Records…

Don't worry. Just trust them.

May 18, 2006 / Column / Calvin Trillin

Woman Warrior Woman Warrior

Iran Awakening is the memoir of Shirin Ebadi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle to hold Iran's clerical regime accountable for its gross human rights violation...

May 11, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Reza Aslan

Zones of Disengagement Zones of Disengagement

In Absent Minds: Intellectuals in Britain, Stefan Collini encapsulates the paradoxes that dominate discussion of the English cultural landscape.

May 11, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Richard Vinen

The Book of Daniels The Book of Daniels

Michel Houellebecq's The Possibility of an Island has at last landed on American shores, along with Pierre Mérot's Mammals.

May 11, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Christine Smallwood

Dining With Devils Dining With Devils

Wole Soyinka's You Must Set Forth at Dawn is a captivating memoir of the political and cultural dilemmas the author and activist encountered, and a compelling chronicle of Nigeria'...

May 11, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Fatin Abbas

The Sheltering Shy The Sheltering Shy

Satirist Alan Bennett's Untold Stories is a packed suitcase of a book by one of Britain's finest writers, exploring the ra

May 11, 2006 / Books & the Arts / David Thomson

High Culture, Low Politics High Culture, Low Politics

In The Seduction of Culture in German History, Wolf Lepenies reflects on shifting manifestations of German philosophy and culture and considers the lessons they offer for Europe an...

May 11, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Andreas Huyssen

For Reasons of State For Reasons of State

Two new books on the French Revolution examine Robespierre's role in advocating terror as an instrument of government, raising compelling questions about state-sponsored terror in ...

May 11, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Lynn Hunt

The Composer’s Craft The Composer’s Craft

In Stravinsky, the Second Exile, Stephen Walsh chronicles the composer's late years, disentangling the realities of his life and work from the published assertions of a self-servin...

May 11, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Paul Mitchinson

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