Culture

A scene from “Disclaimer.”

The Empty Thrills of Alfonso Cuarón’s “Disclaimer” The Empty Thrills of Alfonso Cuarón’s “Disclaimer”

Why did the great Mexican filmmaker make a soapy thriller?

Dec 19, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Jorge Cotte

Men imprisoned at the Mafanta Prison peer out at the world. In 2016, Sierra Leone’s Human Rights Commission decried the squalor and lack of rehabilitative programs as “inhumane.”

The Legacy of the British Legal System Continues to Inflict Misery in Sierra Leone The Legacy of the British Legal System Continues to Inflict Misery in Sierra Leone

Decades after independence, colonial-era laws have created a mass-incarceration crisis in Sierra Leone as poor citizens are thrown into prison for the smallest offenses.

Dec 19, 2024 / Feature / Mara Kardas-Nelson

The Truth Will…

The Truth Will… The Truth Will…

Piss You Off. (Graffiti In NYC)

Dec 18, 2024 / OppArt / Anonymous

Auctioning Off Judaism’s Past

Auctioning Off Judaism’s Past Auctioning Off Judaism’s Past

As the collections of Sir Moses Montefiore and David Solomon Sassoon go under the hammer today, what's the future for rare books and historic artifacts in the age of generative AI...

Dec 18, 2024 / David Brodsky

The Brutalist and the Hidden Work of Architecture

The Brutalist and the Hidden Work of Architecture "The Brutalist" and the Hidden Work of Architecture

A film about survival, creativity, the hypocrisies of high art, The Brutalist tells a story about an architect who does not exploit and manipulate others to achieve his grand visi...

Dec 18, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Kate Wagner

President Donald Trump pointing in front of an American flag.

Transition Team Methods Transition Team Methods

Dec 17, 2024 / Column / Calvin Trillin

Ethan Herisse as Elwood and Brandon Wilson as Turner in “Nickel Boys.”

The Illusory Beauty of “Nickel Boys” The Illusory Beauty of “Nickel Boys”

An avant-garde adaptation of Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel careens between questions of style and substance.

Dec 17, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Stephen Kearse

David Montgomery in a picket line during a 1955 UE strike.

David Montgomery and the Vitality of Labor History David Montgomery and the Vitality of Labor History

From his first book to his landmark account of the politics of the pre-WWI labor movement, Montgomery explored how people’s experiences of work shaped their political horizons.

Dec 17, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Kim Phillips-Fein

Nation Poetry

from “Mojave Ghost” from “Mojave Ghost”

Dec 17, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Forrest Gander

Isabella Hammad and the Politics of Recognition

Isabella Hammad and the Politics of Recognition Isabella Hammad and the Politics of Recognition

In her capacious book of criticism, Recognizing the Stranger, Isabella Hammad asks: “How large is the gulf between us?”

Dec 16, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Abdelrahman ElGendy

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