All that Lore: On James Wolcott All that Lore: On James Wolcott
The critic James Wolcott has been gamely fighting losing battles for most of his career.
Jan 18, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Leo Robson
Shelf Life Shelf Life
Joan Didion’s Blue Nights, Peter Van Buren’s We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People.
Jan 18, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Alexandra Schwartz
Fair and Balanced: On Copyright and Fair Use Fair and Balanced: On Copyright and Fair Use
Have copyright laws failed?
Jan 18, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Caleb Crain
Everything Except Me: On Percival Everett Everything Except Me: On Percival Everett
In Assumption a murder mystery becomes a lesson in how much we do not know.
Jan 18, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Laila Lalami
Newt Lays Into Mitt Newt Lays Into Mitt
It’s “pious baloney.” Yes, pious baloney. What Mitt speaks, Newt says, is remarkably phony: His outsider citizen pose is all hooey; He’s hungered for office like Thomas E. Dewey. And what he was doing those years spent at Bain Was not create jobs but cause working stiffs pain. While Newt covers Mitt’s smooth exterior with blotches, Obama’s campaign staff just carefully watches.
Jan 11, 2012 / Column / Calvin Trillin
The Devil, Probably: On Maurizio Cattelan The Devil, Probably: On Maurizio Cattelan
An artist known as a trickster and showman stages a disappearing act at the Guggenheim.
Jan 11, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
Crime and Punishment: On William Stuntz Crime and Punishment: On William Stuntz
A lack of local democracy and equal protection has led to the collapse of the American criminal justice system.
Jan 11, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Michael O’Donnell
Algeria’s Wounds Algeria’s Wounds
Most people caught up in the Algerian War left no accounts of it at all.
Jan 11, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Richard Vinen
The Language The Language
field of black sheep who know Church Latin a shipyard of vessels all named Sentence a tangle of words in a basket of laundry a night like no other blackbirds falling like endings a gift unrecognized by grace a barrel only a barrel at the Stoics’ Hotel they stay for years getting lost in the language
Jan 11, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Maxine Chernoff
‘The Iron Lady’: The Margaret Thatcher Movie We Don’t Need ‘The Iron Lady’: The Margaret Thatcher Movie We Don’t Need
In the new bio-pic, Margaret Thatcher's iron isn’t just rusty, it’s melted down into something soft and personal. The Iron Lady gives us Thatcher, the ABBA Version...
Jan 4, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Laura Flanders