Cultural Criticism and Analysis

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

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