Cultural Criticism and Analysis

Richard Holbrooke and the Lost Idealism of a Generation

Richard Holbrooke and the Lost Idealism of a Generation Richard Holbrooke and the Lost Idealism of a Generation

Holbrooke’s public and personal life captures the contradictions of a cohort of liberals that came of age in the 1960s.

Aug 13, 2019 / Books & the Arts / David Klion

Philip Roth’s Great American Estate Sale

Philip Roth’s Great American Estate Sale Philip Roth’s Great American Estate Sale

The bidding is sparse, but the late author’s modest effects are revealing.

Jul 19, 2019 / Elizabeth Pochoda

‘Mad’ Magazine Told the Truth About War, Advertising, and the Media

‘Mad’ Magazine Told the Truth About War, Advertising, and the Media ‘Mad’ Magazine Told the Truth About War, Advertising, and the Media

An obituary for America’s greatest and most influential satirical magazine.

Jul 8, 2019 / Jeet Heer

Stonewall Inn interior

It Doesn’t Matter Who Threw the First Brick at Stonewall It Doesn’t Matter Who Threw the First Brick at Stonewall

Infighting over ownership of the riots obscures their significance as a messy, spontaneous, diverse rebellion.

Jun 30, 2019 / Morgan M. Page

Adam Gopnik and the Cul-de-sac of 21st-Century Liberalism

Adam Gopnik and the Cul-de-sac of 21st-Century Liberalism Adam Gopnik and the Cul-de-sac of 21st-Century Liberalism

In his new book, the New Yorker writer sets out to defend liberalism from its critics, but only ends up revealing its current limitations.

Jun 12, 2019 / Books & the Arts / David A. Bell

Morgan Bassichis

Morgan Bassichis’s Haunted American Songbook Morgan Bassichis’s Haunted American Songbook

The performer’s work presents a riotous vision of what an intergenerational left might look like.

May 23, 2019 / Ari M. Brostoff

Sophie Lewis

Want to Dismantle Capitalism? Abolish the Family Want to Dismantle Capitalism? Abolish the Family

Feminist theorist Sophie Lewis’s new book looks at how rethinking pregnancy and the idea of family as forms of labor is central to emancipatory politics.

May 16, 2019 / Q&A / Rosemarie Ho

Natasha Lennard

What Is Anti-Fascism? What Is Anti-Fascism?

A Q&A with Natasha Lennard.

May 15, 2019 / Q&A / Ari M. Brostoff

Time’s Up for Capitalism. But What Comes Next?

Time’s Up for Capitalism. But What Comes Next? Time’s Up for Capitalism. But What Comes Next?

Every day, we help decide how the future will unfold. But how do we cast ballots for a democracy that doesn’t yet exist?

May 6, 2019 / Astra Taylor

The Bare Ruined Choirs of Notre Dame

The Bare Ruined Choirs of Notre Dame The Bare Ruined Choirs of Notre Dame

This monument to medieval faith will surely be rebuilt—by the techno-mobilization of capitalist individualism.

Apr 22, 2019 / Richard Lingeman

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