Books and Ideas

The Zoological Nightmares of Rafael Bernal

The Zoological Nightmares of Rafael Bernal The Zoological Nightmares of Rafael Bernal

The Mexican writer’s 1947 novel His Name Was Death dramatizes humanity’s ecological arrogance through the story of a mosquito swarm with plans of world destruction.

Apr 25, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Lucas Iberico Lozada

It’s Woody Guthrie’s World.  We Just Live in It.

It’s Woody Guthrie’s World. We Just Live in It. It’s Woody Guthrie’s World. We Just Live in It.

A new show at the Morgan Library illuminates the legendary folk singer’s jam-packed life.

Apr 25, 2022 / Feature / Gene Seymour

The New York Times Book Review at a Crossroads

The New York Times Book Review at a Crossroads The New York Times Book Review at a Crossroads

What does the future hold for one of United States’ oldest literary institutions?

Apr 21, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Kyle Paoletta

The Damning Legacy of Clintonism

The Damning Legacy of Clintonism The Damning Legacy of Clintonism

A conversation with Lily Geismer about her new book Left Behind, the misguided market guided policy of the New Democrats, and the failures of Bill Clinton. 

Apr 20, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Joshua Leifer

The Many Lives of Billy Wilder

The Many Lives of Billy Wilder The Many Lives of Billy Wilder

From Galicia to Berlin to Paris and eventually to Hollywood, the prolific director and screenwriter never let go of what proved to be his most formative experience: being in a stat...

Apr 19, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Noah Isenberg

Tom Cotton slightly smiling in a black suit

Tom Cotton, Legal Scholar Tom Cotton, Legal Scholar

Tom Cotton, a man with two Harvard degrees, attacked Ketanji Brown Jackson for representing a defendant accused of terrorism. —news reports Tom Cotton doesn’t seem to be aware That…

Apr 19, 2022 / Column / Calvin Trillin

Cedric Robinson’s Radical Democracy

Cedric Robinson’s Radical Democracy Cedric Robinson’s Radical Democracy

Rejecting the resignation of the 1970s and ’80s, Robinson found hope and resistance in the ruins of the American city.

Apr 18, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Jared Loggins

Turning Theory Into Art

Turning Theory Into Art Turning Theory Into Art

Anna Ostoya transforms Chantal Mouffe’s writing into collages, with the hope of making her ideas more available to the masses.

Apr 14, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Jonah Goldman Kay

Has Neoliberalism Really Come to an End?

Has Neoliberalism Really Come to an End? Has Neoliberalism Really Come to an End?

A conversation with historian Gary Gerstle about understanding neoliberalism as a bipartisan worldview and how the political order it ushered in has crumbled. 

Apr 13, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins

The Absurdist Meets Jane Austen in Bloomington

The Absurdist Meets Jane Austen in Bloomington The Absurdist Meets Jane Austen in Bloomington

Budi Darma’s People from Bloomington engages in a strange realism—where life in a small-town America seems both banal and absurd. 

Apr 12, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Intan Paramaditha

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