Books and Ideas

Le Pen’s Third Try for the Presidency Fails

Le Pen’s Third Try for the Presidency Fails Le Pen’s Third Try for the Presidency Fails

You ran again and then you ran again, And still the French did not elect Le Pen. They knew you could have done a lot of harm If number three turned out to be the charm. We hope the…

May 3, 2022 / Column / Calvin Trillin

W.E.B. Du Bois’s Abolition Democracy

W.E.B. Du Bois’s Abolition Democracy W.E.B. Du Bois’s Abolition Democracy

The enduring legacy and capacious vision of Black Reconstruction.

May 3, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Gerald Horne

Jennifer Egan’s World Wide Web

Jennifer Egan’s World Wide Web Jennifer Egan’s World Wide Web

Her latest novel tackles a favorite topic of her fiction—the excesses of the Internet and modern technologies.

May 3, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Erin Somers

John Keene’s Poetry of Others

John Keene’s Poetry of Others John Keene’s Poetry of Others

In Punks, the self is never static and cannot exist outside its relationships to others.

May 2, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Ken Chen

What Is Left of History?

What Is Left of History? What Is Left of History?

Joan Scott’s On the Judgment of History asks us to imagine the past without the idea of progress. But what gets left out in the process?

May 2, 2022 / Books & the Arts / David A. Bell

The Ambitious and Overstuffed World of Hanya Yanagihara

The Ambitious and Overstuffed World of Hanya Yanagihara The Ambitious and Overstuffed World of Hanya Yanagihara

To Paradise attempts to break out of the common insularity of contemporary fiction, but in doing so it often ends up focusing more on the author.

May 2, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Tope Folarin

Me Too and the Not Me Novel

Me Too and the Not Me Novel Me Too and the Not Me Novel

Julia May Jonas’s new novel is a study of a campus scandal and a woman caught in the middle of it.

May 2, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Laura Marsh

Antonio Di Benedetto and the Sound of Madness

Antonio Di Benedetto and the Sound of Madness Antonio Di Benedetto and the Sound of Madness

His bleak and surreal 1964 novel The Silentiary examines one man’s quest for quiet.

Apr 27, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Dustin Illingworth

A man holds a microphone surrounded by a crowd.

Now Amazon Is Being Challenged in the Boardroom as Well Now Amazon Is Being Challenged in the Boardroom as Well

A campaign by New York and Illinois pension fund leaders, led by New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, aims to pressure the company on its shocking record on workplace safety and ...

Apr 26, 2022 / Nathan Newman

What the Year 2000 Wrought

What the Year 2000 Wrought What the Year 2000 Wrought

A conversation with Andrew Rice about his book The Year That Broke America, the chaotic politics of the aughts, and how that decade’s eccentric characters defined American life.&nb...

Apr 26, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Alana Pockros

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