Books and Ideas

Nancy Has Two Mommies Nancy Has Two Mommies

Nancy Drew has been a fixture in young girls' lives since 1930. But the continuing appeal of this spunky American icon--never sad, wrinkled or misunderstood--is both heartwarming a...

Nov 30, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Brenda Wineapple

Letter of the Law Letter of the Law

America's Constitution: A Biography examines America's obsession with the Constitution--its origins, evolution and interpretation.

Nov 30, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Jack Rakove

The Chosen People The Chosen People

The Jewish Century defies the conventional view of Jews as outsiders and traces their symbiotic relationship with Christians. A History of the Jews in the Modern World follows the ...

Nov 30, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Lazare

G.M. Stumps the Senators G.M. Stumps the Senators

With assembly plant shut-downs and a massive layoff of 5,000 workers, GM has seen better days. Those include the 1950s, when GM was in trouble with the Senate for being too powerfu...

Nov 23, 2005 / Feature / John Keats

Marxism and Form Marxism and Form

Perry Anderson's Spectrum journeys through the abstract worlds of conservative and liberal intellectual thought, and leaves in its trail insights on the substance and style of idea...

Nov 22, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Stefan Collini

The Secret History of Rum The Secret History of Rum

Long before oil dominated geopolitics, rum was the original global commodity, tying Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Caribbean in a complex web of trade and credit. And Bacardi...

Nov 22, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Ian Williams

Succès de Scandale Succès de Scandale

American readers have long felt guilty about loving Lolita. As Vladimir Nabokov's nymphet heroine turns 50, Lila Azam Zanganeh traces the impact of a novel that has become both an ...

Nov 17, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Lila Azam Zanganeh

The Tower of Babel The Tower of Babel

Jerome Charyn's Savage Shorthand: The Life and Death of Isaac Babel examines the life the revolutionary idealist murdered by Stalin in 1940 and explodes the literary myths that hav...

Nov 17, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Lee Siegel

The Dying Animal The Dying Animal

Gabriel García Márquez's new novella begins as an autobiography, but the passion-filled story of an old man, mad with love and clinging to life, weaves Marquez's othe...

Nov 17, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Michael Wood

Mystic River Mystic River

Amartya Sen's latest collection of essays explores the rich flow of various peoples in and out of India and how they shaped the politics and spirituality of the nation today.

Nov 17, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Tariq Ali

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