Books and Ideas

Another ‘October Surprise’ Another ‘October Surprise’

Poor Anthony Summers--he writes a 600-page book on Nixon based on massive and exhaustive research, including interviews with a thousand people and 120 pages of documentation--and...

Oct 19, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Jon Wiener

The Kiss The Kiss

You may find reading Akhil Sharma's debut novel akin to having your head held underwater. Attendant with feelings of a relentless, choking panic, though, will be an almost preter...

Oct 19, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Amitava Kumar

Muddle in the Middle, or The Class Act in Politics Muddle in the Middle, or The Class Act in Politics

Ruy Teixeira and Joel Rogers's America's Forgotten Majority has been credited with convincing Al Gore last summer to adopt a populist campaign strategy built around "working fami...

Oct 12, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Jack Metzgar

The Rise of Market Populism The Rise of Market Populism

It offers a blatant apologia for economic inequality--but few question the faith.

Oct 12, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Thomas Frank

Orient Expressed: Imagism Orient Expressed: Imagism

However varied their styles, poets writing in English today still rely on the early-twentieth-century Imagist principles of clarity, directness, presentative imagery and rhythm b...

Oct 12, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Grace Schulman

House Finches House Finches

To watch the pair of house finches that frequent the neighbor's feeder, I leave the charcoal blinds pulled up. The berry-splashed chest of the male-- each morning--make...

Oct 5, 2000 / Books & the Arts / John Poch

The Cartography of Death The Cartography of Death

Certainly...get him hanged! Why not? Anything--anything can be done in this country. --Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness So here we are, barely into the next century, and...

Oct 5, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Tom Engelhardt

North of the Border North of the Border

One of the most haunting images in David Riker's film La Ciudad is of the New York City skyline seen from a work site miles away from midtown. There, a group of Hispanic dayworke...

Sep 28, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Michael Ugarte

Circus Maximus Circus Maximus

We don't have a TV at home, so we've missed the much-drubbed NBC Olympics coverage. So when a little friend of my son's said she'd been watching, I asked her if any of the event...

Sep 28, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Patricia J. Williams

Rereading Old Writing Rereading Old Writing

Looking back, the language scribbles. What's hidden, having been said? Almost everything? Thrilling to think There was a secret there somewhere, A bird singing in the heart'...

Sep 28, 2000 / Books & the Arts / David Ferry

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