Books and Ideas

The Toxic History of the Salton Sea

The Toxic History of the Salton Sea The Toxic History of the Salton Sea

A new book by Traci Brynne Voyles catalogs the alarming events that created one of the West’s most polluted bodies of water.

Aug 10, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Kyle Paoletta

Former vice president Mike Pence

Trump on Pence as Mob Constructs Gallows Trump on Pence as Mob Constructs Gallows

No calls for dispersal, just insults to Pence Was what Trump relayed to the crowd he harangued. He called Pence disloyal and things worse than that. No thanks to his boss did Mike…

Aug 9, 2022 / Column / Calvin Trillin

Keith Gessen’s Adventures in Parenting

Keith Gessen’s Adventures in Parenting Keith Gessen’s Adventures in Parenting

In his new book about parenting, Gessen offers a tour of anxieties set in the semi-gentrified Brooklyn of the 2020s.

Aug 9, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Ryu Spaeth

Letters Icon

Letters From the August 22/29, 2022, Issue Letters From the August 22/29, 2022, Issue

Gay liberation… Hooded justice… 

Aug 9, 2022 / Our Readers

Ottessa Moshfegh’s Cruel Worlds

Ottessa Moshfegh’s Cruel Worlds Ottessa Moshfegh’s Cruel Worlds

In her new novel, Moshfegh explores the brutish world of the Middle Ages.

Aug 8, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Elvia Wilk

Juan Emar

Juan Emar’s Forgotten Vanguard Juan Emar’s Forgotten Vanguard

Influenced by the Surrealists, the obscure Chilean novelist took to task the social realist status quo in his magical fiction.

Aug 4, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Hanson O’Haver 

The Wondrous and Mundane Diaries of Edna St. Vincent Millay

The Wondrous and Mundane Diaries of Edna St. Vincent Millay The Wondrous and Mundane Diaries of Edna St. Vincent Millay

Her private writing offers another, more idiosyncratic angle to understand the famed poet.

Aug 3, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Apoorva Tadepalli

Marlen Haushofer’s Bucolic Apocalypse

Marlen Haushofer’s Bucolic Apocalypse Marlen Haushofer’s Bucolic Apocalypse

Examining an isolated life, in the wake of an unknown cataclysm, The Wall forces its readers to confront their relationship to the natural world.

Aug 2, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Missouri Williams

Network cables in a server room in New York City, 2014.

The Sophist Network The Sophist Network

Justin E.H. Smith’s recent book is a prime example of how a certain realm of philosophical thinking misunderstands the material impact of the Internet.

Aug 1, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Michael Eby

Near Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Encounters With Adélia Prado Encounters With Adélia Prado

Five new translations of the Brazilian poet’s work by Ellen Doré Watson. 

Jul 28, 2022 / Poems / Adélia Prado and Ellen Doré Watson

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