Books and Ideas

Prince Albert in a Can Prince Albert in a Can

What's the meaning of Al Gore? Or George Bush?

Jun 8, 2000 / Books & the Arts / David Corn

McCullers: Canon Fodder? McCullers: Canon Fodder?

What makes an American writer? In today's narrow, backlashed literary market the chain of command is quite clear. The "greats" are Updike, Pynchon, Mailer, Bellow and Roth.

Jun 8, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Sarah Schulman

The Sri Lankan Patients The Sri Lankan Patients

This time none of that lollygagging elusiveness that began The English Patient.

Jun 1, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Tom LeClair

The Troves of Academe The Troves of Academe

"A university," poet John Ciardi acidly observed, "is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students." Add this contemporary counterpunch: A college is what a...

May 25, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Carlin Romano

Harrington’s Dilemma Harrington’s Dilemma

Maurice Isserman's The Other American: The Life of Michael Harrington evokes and will enrich the legacy of the last great American socialist in the tradition of Eugene Debs and N...

May 25, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Tom Hayden

When the CIA Was the NEA When the CIA Was the NEA

In June 1948 George Kennan, director of the State Department's policy planning staff, drafted National Security Directive NSC-10/2.

May 25, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Michael P. Rogin

Author, Author! Author, Author!

"There are more than a million writers in the United States and they write more than 500,000 books each year, 90% of which never see publication.

May 25, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Art Winslow

In Our Orbit In Our Orbit

Witness to History The End of the Peace Process:

May 25, 2000 / Books & the Arts / The Editors

Sartre’s Roads to Freedom Sartre’s Roads to Freedom

Asked where he was coming from, my friend's son replied, "From the demo against the death of Sartre." It was April 19, 1980, and the definition fitted perfectly, for Sartre's fun...

May 18, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Singer

A Closing of the American Kind A Closing of the American Kind

You will recall that when Augie March went to Mexico, he hooked up with an eagle, which he called Caligula.

May 11, 2000 / Books & the Arts / John Leonard

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