Are We Living in an Age of Strongmen? Are We Living in an Age of Strongmen?
A new book by Ruth Ben-Ghiat discusses the past and present challenges posed by authoritarianism, but misses the social and economic conditions in which it arises.
Apr 6, 2021 / Books & the Arts / David A. Bell
Alternative Facts Alternative Facts
“It was zero threat.… Some of them went in, and they are hugging and kissing the police and the guards—you know, they had great relationships.” —Donald Trump on the January 6 riote…
Apr 6, 2021 / Column / Calvin Trillin
The General, the Mistress, and the Love Stories That Blind Us The General, the Mistress, and the Love Stories That Blind Us
Vernadette Vicuña Gonzalez discusses her new book on Isabel Cooper, a Filipina American actress and Douglas MacArthur’s lover.
Apr 5, 2021 / Q&A / Noah Flora
Gogol’s Bullshit Jobs Gogol’s Bullshit Jobs
His biting satires of Russian bureaucracy examined the random cruelty and arbitrary hierarchy of an empire in crisis.
Apr 5, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Jennifer Wilson
The Age of Care The Age of Care
A new history by Gabriel Winant examines how an economy of care—and with it a new working class—emerged out of deindustrialization.
Apr 5, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Nelson Lichtenstein
Politicizing Science Politicizing Science
Anti-vax vs. covid reality.
It’s Important I Remember That There’s a Difference Between a Human Being and a Person— It’s Important I Remember That There’s a Difference Between a Human Being and a Person—
which comes to mind each time I see them kiss a dog on the mouth. N A dog’s mouth is cleaner than a human’s only because our best friends cannot say the things acquaintances do abo…
Apr 1, 2021 / Poems / Cortney Lamar Charleston
Dr. Seuss’s Mistakes Are the Least of Our Troubles Dr. Seuss’s Mistakes Are the Least of Our Troubles
If we insist on holding cultural history to contemporary standards, what will we have left?
Apr 1, 2021 / Column / Katha Pollitt
Leonora Carrington’s Irreverent Dreamscapes Leonora Carrington’s Irreverent Dreamscapes
The surrealist painter’s only novel, The Hearing Trumpet, is a wily, epicurean, and hilariously scattershot exploration of nature, religion, myth, and more.
Apr 1, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Zachary Fine
Rehearsals (Lilica [Pixote, 1980 dir. Héctor Babenco]) Rehearsals (Lilica [Pixote, 1980 dir. Héctor Babenco])
I’m telling you a place of purple rocks stretching to the sunset…I’m telling you eyes like a pharaoh’s…I’m telling you huge bouquets of flowers drooling in cheap rooms…I’m telling…
Apr 1, 2021 / Poems / Robert Fernandez