Books and Ideas

Water’s Edge Water’s Edge

Manhattan is a tight little island. Around thirteen miles long, it has a width that varies from two miles to a few hundred feet.

Mar 25, 2004 / Books & the Arts / John Palattella

Letter From Algeria Letter From Algeria

Excavating the disappeared.

Mar 25, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Jack Brown

The New Critic The New Critic

The American foreign affairs establishment seems finally to have gotten worried about the antics of the Boy Emperor.

Mar 18, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Chalmers Johnson

Moses Goes Down Moses Goes Down

If upon reading the first sentence of Moses Isegawa's debut novel, Abyssinian Chronicles, in an Amsterdam bookstore a few years back, I quickly re-read it a few times and committ...

Mar 18, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Matt Steinglass

The Secret Sharer The Secret Sharer

Although the epigraph of Damon Galgut's novel is taken from Chekhov, it is the ghost of Graham Greene that hovers most palpably over The Good Doctor, and even in the cadence of i...

Mar 18, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Claire Messud

Accidental Friends Accidental Friends

"One does not jail Voltaire." So responded the president of France to calls that Jean-Paul Sartre be arrested for backing an independent Algeria.

Mar 18, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Russell Jacoby

I Confess (Sort of) I Confess (Sort of)

A confession is, by definition, a declaration of guilt.

Mar 11, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Kate Levin

Labor Pains Labor Pains

When I took childbirth classes six years ago, the word "pressure" was bandied about an awful lot: We heard about the pressure on our bladders, the pressure applied to our backs t...

Mar 11, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Jennifer Niesslein

The Three-State Solution? The Three-State Solution?

All nations are modern inventions, but those fashioned in the Middle East show their scaffolding more than most.

Mar 11, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Juan Cole

The Deciding Vote The Deciding Vote

According to the Constitution, the President, with the consent of the Senate, selects the members of the Supreme Court.

Mar 11, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Eric Foner

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