Books and Ideas

2003 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize 2003 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize

The Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize of $25,000, awarded annually for the most outstanding book of poems published in the United States by an American, is administered mutually by ...

Nov 13, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Robert Wrigley

New York State of Mind New York State of Mind

After two elegantly written, consistently engaging, critically praised, ambitious if not entirely satisfying novels, the prodigiously gifted Colson Whitehead has given the read...

Nov 13, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Phillip Lopate

Lost Causes Lost Causes

Nations, like individuals, sustain trauma, mourn and recover. And like individuals they survive by making sense of what has befallen them, by constructing a narrative of loss a...

Nov 6, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Thomas Laqueur

A Configuration of Themes A Configuration of Themes

This essay--Edward W. Said's first piece for The Nation from the magazine's May 30, 1966, issue--is a special selection from The Nation Digital Archive. If you want to read everyth...

Oct 30, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Edward W. Said

About Begley About Begley

Louis Begley is perhaps currently best known as the author of About Schmidt, the novel from which the recent acclaimed film starring Jack Nicholson was adapted.

Oct 30, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Claire Messud

The Curse of the Caucasus The Curse of the Caucasus

When George Kennan set out for the Caucasus in 1870, few if any Americans had explored the highlands of Dagestan, Chechnya and the wild frontiers of imperial Russia. And with good ...

Oct 30, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Raffi Khatchadourian

What Are They Reading? What Are They Reading?

Kingdom of Shadows, the sixth of Alan Furst's novels of historical espionage fiction, was hard for me to put down--and when I did, I couldn't wait to pick it up again.

Oct 25, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Peter I. Fifield

A Kiss in Java A Kiss in Java

In a broad square not far from the center of Jakarta, a large obelisk of concrete soars into the sky.

Oct 23, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Patrick Smith

Starting Out in the ’50s Starting Out in the ’50s

The best memoirs of recent years reveal "The Way We Live Now" as well as or better than most contemporary fiction.

Oct 23, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Dan Wakefield

How the Other Half Learns How the Other Half Learns

Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom have long been pillars of highbrow conservatism in America.

Oct 23, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Peter Schrag

x