Books and Ideas

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

In Moby-Dick, in the chapter "The Fossil Whale," Ishmael proclaims: "To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme." The theme of Joyce Carol Oates's Blonde--well, it'...

Apr 20, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Lawrence Joseph

The Compleat Walker The Compleat Walker

Shortly before he died, Bruce Chatwin found God. This was on top of Mount Athos, after which he left for Katmandu. Looking down from the bees and grapes, he had seen an iron cros...

Apr 13, 2000 / Books & the Arts / John Leonard

Reparting the Waters Reparting the Waters

It is delightfully ironic that a site has been approved for the construction of a monument in Martin Luther King Jr.'s name on the Washington Mall, given that in the last months ...

Apr 13, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Jason Sokol

Poetry Poetry

After Troy

Not quite putting on what little power or knowledge
pigeons lay claim to, she nonetheless bids them come.
Launched off cornices,

Apr 13, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Various Contributors

Passages to India Passages to India

In the early 1920s, E.M.

Apr 5, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Amitava Kumar

Her Own Lambs and Falcons Her Own Lambs and Falcons

It really is about time we had the letters of Rebecca West.

Apr 5, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Georgette Fleischer

Talking ‘Anarchy’ With Chomsky Talking ‘Anarchy’ With Chomsky

Noam Chomsky is a longtime political activist, writer and professor of linguistics at MIT.

Apr 5, 2000 / Books & the Arts / David Barsamian

Pakistan on the Brink Pakistan on the Brink

Pakistan today is a complete mess, a sad example of what can happen when a once-favored "frontline state" is reduced to the status of a cold war orphan.

Mar 30, 2000 / Feature / Tariq Ali

The New U The New U

While the public has been napping, the American university has been busily reinventing itself.

Mar 30, 2000 / Books & the Arts / David Kirp

The ‘Casanova of Causes’ The ‘Casanova of Causes’

To her biographer, Simone de Beauvoir confided a less than rhapsodic one-night stand, in 1946, with the Hungarian malcontent Arthur Koestler: "One night I got so drunk I let him ...

Mar 22, 2000 / Books & the Arts / John Leonard

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