The Haunted World of Edith Wharton The Haunted World of Edith Wharton
Whether exploring the dread of everyday life or the horrors of the occult, her ghost tales documented an America haunted by the specters of isolation, class, and despair.
Feb 8, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Krithika Varagur
Palin Redux Palin Redux
Sarah Palin flouts a New York ordinance by dining in an Upper East Side restaurant unvaccinated.—News reports Refusing the vaccine means freedom, she says, And no one can ever nega…
Feb 8, 2022 / Column / Calvin Trillin
Baseball Players Can’t Live on “a Cup of Coffee” Baseball Players Can’t Live on “a Cup of Coffee”
The media’s “billionaires vs. millionaires” view of the current baseball lockout is a major league lie. The vast majority of players who reach the big leagues don’t play long enoug...
Feb 7, 2022 / Kelly Candaele and Peter Dreier
Has the Pandemic Pushed Universities to the Brink? Has the Pandemic Pushed Universities to the Brink?
Covid has turned the gap between universities and colleges serving mainly privileged students and those serving needy ones into a chasm and it is unclear if the latter will be able...
Feb 7, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Andrew Delbanco
What Art Spiegelman’s “Maus” Means to the Children of Survivors What Art Spiegelman’s “Maus” Means to the Children of Survivors
On banning the book that changed what we talk about when we talk about the Holocaust.
Feb 4, 2022 / Linda Mannheim
In Search of Self-Destruction on an Oil Rig In Search of Self-Destruction on an Oil Rig
Tabitha Lasley’s Sea State is an intimate and blistering memoir of a writer’s life amidst the UK’s offshore natural gas industry.
Feb 3, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Jess Bergman
Norman Mailer Wasn’t Canceled Norman Mailer Wasn’t Canceled
What’s most striking about the Mailer contretemps is how it embodies so many aspects of the current discourse around cancel culture and free speech.
Feb 2, 2022 / Books & the Arts / David Klion
The Limits of Understanding the Pandemic Philosophically The Limits of Understanding the Pandemic Philosophically
Byung-Chul Han’s The Palliative Society tries to contextualize the emotional and cultural ramifications of Covid-19 without ever addressing its material consequences.
Feb 1, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Clinton Williamson
Muhammad Ali Was Our Last Great American Hero Muhammad Ali Was Our Last Great American Hero
The American dream may be coming apart at the seams, but the glory of The Greatest is in full flower and still growing. Why?
Jan 31, 2022 / Robert Lipsyte
Theater Kids and the End Times in “Station Eleven” Theater Kids and the End Times in “Station Eleven”
The HBO adaptation of Emily St. Mandel’s postapocalyptic pandemic novel examines, with mixed results, the endurance of art after society collapses.
Jan 31, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Vikram Murthi