Alan Lomax: A Life of Sound Alan Lomax: A Life of Sound
During the early twentieth century, Alan Lomax and his father John traveled throughout the American South searching for the work songs, spirituals and folk tales that gave the regi...
Aug 25, 2011 / Books & the Arts / The Nation and Francis Reynolds
Enter Rick Perry Enter Rick Perry
With even more impressive hair than Kerry, At last into the race arrives Rick Perry. Though Perry’s blessed, no doubt, with splendid hair, he Believes some things that strike some folks as scary. Observers down in Texas still are wary. The space between his ears, they say, is airy. But for the pros who count which states he’d carry, What’s there beneath the hair is ancillary.
Aug 24, 2011 / Column / Calvin Trillin
The Perpetual Guest: On Warren Niesluchowski The Perpetual Guest: On Warren Niesluchowski
A visit from Warren is a test of hospitality: you don’t take him in, you take him on.
Aug 24, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
Discandied: On Women and Elegy Discandied: On Women and Elegy
Learning to mourn with Susan Howe, Gertrude Schnackenberg, Anne Carson and C.D. Wright.
Aug 24, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Susan Stewart
This Is a Recording: On Alan Lomax This Is a Recording: On Alan Lomax
How Alan Lomax became the most significant Baedeker of America’s folkways.
Aug 24, 2011 / Books & the Arts / David Yaffe
Undersong Undersong
When the bottom drops out of August when the bottom drops and the summer disc burns deep in its bed when nerves sing, blaze, and flame their circuit when the bottom of August sticks out and clouds above change shape when bodies inside spin and change shape the bottom falls and meaning peeks out with chagrin the hot skin of August no longer sending messages of summer birds no longer at rest when the winds pick up and the cool air is just behind it all the bottom of the news story reveals itself the story is cold
Aug 22, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Peter Gizzi
The Newest Avenger: Superhero to Challenge Race Politics The Newest Avenger: Superhero to Challenge Race Politics
When he makes his comeback this fall, Spiderman will ditch Peter Parker’s persona as scrawny, awkward, white, science-nerd and adopt a new one as the half-black, half-Latino ...
Aug 16, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Maria Kari
A ‘Troublemaker’ Looks Back on an Era of Hope and Upheaval A ‘Troublemaker’ Looks Back on an Era of Hope and Upheaval
For half a century, Bill Zimmerman has labored for progressive causes as an organizer and political consultant. In a new memoir, he looks back on his career with an unwavering comm...
Aug 15, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Danny Goldberg
HBO’s Gloria Steinem Doc Glosses over Race, and Fails to Assess the Second Wave’s Legacy HBO’s Gloria Steinem Doc Glosses over Race, and Fails to Assess the Second Wave’s Legacy
Gloria Steinem and Second Wave feminism deserve a far more sophisticated and critical treatment.
Aug 12, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Dana Goldstein