Books and Ideas

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

Love in the Ruins Love in the Ruins

Irène Némirovsky's Suite Française, published fifty-two years after she perished at Auschwitz, offers an unsparing critique of France under the German occupati...

May 11, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Alice Kaplan

Dead Man Dead Man

Philip Roth's Everyman is a contemporary morality play that explores the author's obsessions with health and virility, ecstasy and betrayal, and the certainty and solitude of death...

May 11, 2006 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz

Laughter in the Dark Laughter in the Dark

New translations of novels by exiled authors Roberto Bolaño and Ismail Kadare explore the bloody crossroads where literature, politics and self-absorption converge.

May 11, 2006 / Books & the Arts / John Banville

The Great Decider The Great Decider

A doo-wop ditty, performed by the decider-in-chief.

May 11, 2006 / Column / Calvin Trillin

Bonding With the Babe Bonding With the Babe

Bashing Barry Bonds has become a national sport, as the flawed slugger nears matching Babe Ruth's record. But hasn't anyone considered the faults of the Babe?

May 8, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Dave Zirin

Love Letters Love Letters

Richard Lingeman's Double Lives explores the richness of friendships between such literary lions as Hawthorne and Melville, Hemingway and Fitzgerald, and Kerourac, Ginsberg and Cas...

May 4, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Ruth Baldwin

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