Cultural Criticism and Analysis

Barry Malzberg at ReaderCon in 2010.

Novelist on a Deadline: Barry Malzberg, 1939–2024 Novelist on a Deadline: Barry Malzberg, 1939–2024

A speed demon at the typewriter, Malzberg wrote quickly and brilliantly in a variety of genres including mystery, thrillers, and erotica, but his core work was in science fiction....

Dec 23, 2024 / Obituary / Jeet Heer

A Dance to Jules Feiffer at 95

A Dance to Jules Feiffer at 95 A Dance to Jules Feiffer at 95

Cartoonist and writer Jules Feiffer is a national treasure. To mark his 95th birthday, we had some questions for the longtime Nation contributor.

Dec 19, 2024 / Feature / Peter Kuper

Auctioning Off Judaism’s Past

Auctioning Off Judaism’s Past Auctioning Off Judaism’s Past

As the collections of Sir Moses Montefiore and David Solomon Sassoon go under the hammer today, what's the future for rare books and historic artifacts in the age of generative AI...

Dec 18, 2024 / David Brodsky

The Brutalist and the Hidden Work of Architecture

The Brutalist and the Hidden Work of Architecture "The Brutalist" and the Hidden Work of Architecture

A film about survival, creativity, the hypocrisies of high art, The Brutalist tells a story about an architect who does not exploit and manipulate others to achieve his grand visi...

Dec 18, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Kate Wagner

Kamala Harris at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

What Happened to the Democratic Party? What Happened to the Democratic Party?

The squalid state of our present political institutions points to a failure of not just individuals but the system as a whole.

Dec 16, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Chris Lehmann

The pure products of America: Roy Cohn and Donald Trump at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington, DC, on March 20, 1983.

Donald Trump Is the Authentic American Berserk Donald Trump Is the Authentic American Berserk

Far from being an alien interloper, the incoming president draws from homegrown authoritarianism.

Dec 13, 2024 / Jeet Heer

Peter Schjeldahl’s Pleasure Principle

Peter Schjeldahl’s Pleasure Principle Peter Schjeldahl’s Pleasure Principle

His art criticism fixated on the narcissism of the entire enterprise. But over six decades, his work proved that a critic could be an artist too.

Dec 9, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Zachary Fine

Shoppers browse the Trump Store at the Kansas GOP Convention in Overland Park.

What’s—Still—the Matter With Kansas? What’s—Still—the Matter With Kansas?

As recent events bear out, when Thomas Frank lamented, “We’ll have to drag the Democrats kicking and screaming to victory" in 2017, if anything he was understating the challenge.

Nov 27, 2024 / Column / Erica Etelson

The Discontents of Michel Houellebecq

The Discontents of Michel Houellebecq The Discontents of Michel Houellebecq

What happened to the French novelist?

Nov 25, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Cole Stangler

Sundays With Noel

Sundays With Noel Sundays With Noel

Noel Parmentel was, according to his former lover and mentee, Joan Didion, the ‘outsider who lived by his ability to manipulate the inside.’

Nov 22, 2024 / Obituary / Richard Lingeman

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