Of Queers and Kong Of Queers and Kong
From Brokeback Mountain's closeted cowboys to King Kong's embrace of Anne Darrow, Hollywood has queered cherished icons of masculinity. But the two films paint a bleak picture: Lov...
Jan 5, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Richard Goldstein
Wartime Lies Wartime Lies
As Nazis dropped bombs in Warsaw, poet Czeslaw Milosz wrote a collection of literary criticism that sought to trace the rise of totalitarianism by deconstructing the mythologies of...
Dec 20, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Timothy Snyder
Rembrandt’s Year Rembrandt’s Year
2006 marks Rembrandt's 400th birthday, and an array of exhibitions, from the sublime to the silly, will open in Amsterdam, Washington and beyond. As the aesthetic hype escalate...
Dec 19, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Abigail R. Esman
Farewell to the Working Class Farewell to the Working Class
Two new books on indolence, How To Be Idle and Bonjour Laziness, issue low-energy cries for political apathy, a shorter work week and the fine art of slacking off.
Dec 15, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Austin Kelley
The Look of Truth The Look of Truth
Photographs are supposed to be unbiased recognitions of reality, but they're really self-portraits of the photographer. The Ongoing Movement, a blend of biography and analysis, exa...
Dec 8, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Peter Plagens
Octoberfest Octoberfest
Four editors of October magazine trace the history of contemporary art. Though Art Since 1900 seeks to be comprehensive, its writers leave out entire movements and impose moralisti...
Dec 8, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
Pop Torture Pop Torture
Pop culture does more than validate the claim that torture could help foil bombs seconds before detonation.
Dec 8, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Richard Kim
Rogue Scholars Rogue Scholars
Defenders of torture dwell not only in the White House and Pentagon, but in the halls of academia. When prominent law professors and academics cite the fantastic "ticking-bomb theo...
Dec 8, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Tara McKelvey
Marxism and Form Marxism and Form
Perry Anderson's Spectrum journeys through the abstract worlds of conservative and liberal intellectual thought, and leaves in its trail insights on the substance and style of idea...
Nov 22, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Stefan Collini
Succès de Scandale Succès de Scandale
American readers have long felt guilty about loving Lolita. As Vladimir Nabokov's nymphet heroine turns 50, Lila Azam Zanganeh traces the impact of a novel that has become both an ...
Nov 17, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Lila Azam Zanganeh