Culture

Colin Powell and Rush Limbaugh Battle for the Soul of the Republican Party Colin Powell and Rush Limbaugh Battle for the Soul of the Republican Party

Fellowship of the ring.

May 27, 2009 / Column / Calvin Trillin

i am enCentering the amen New i am enCentering the amen New

for Peter Gizzi             crush tamarind and the brown thirst of Quivira       the hollow sound of the silence of travail       the tipp iron toe of aventura coronado . x       -plore for the first time like in imagen childhood       the time of the world of the mesa. but this one is "real"       the opponents are vivid & feather'd & red       not one of these is yr father       here the world that we thought of as round       after all becomes arid & flat in its trail       full of deep stony echoes & the steep sound       of phonemes       as if God is a well where there is no       language of water. no meaning       of silver of mineral flood that we know       in our langurous rivers       . but here is only the archer wind       . is this why we are hearin feathers?       . the future sits across from us squat & vivid on a burn       -ing horse. not a cross. w/its arrows       there are no orchards here. no wine       no other kind of time for these sorrows      

May 27, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Kamau Brathwaite

Steve Earle’s Labor of Love Steve Earle’s Labor of Love

The music on Townes, Steve Earle's tribute to Townes Van Zandt, is simple and literally homespun. There is sinew to this music, and blood in the words.

May 26, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Charles P. Pierce

Chop Shops Chop Shops

Over a decade ago, in his novel The Ax, Donald E. Westlake captured the ruthlessness and anomie of economic Darwinism.

May 26, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Charles Taylor

Cheney vs. Obama: The No-So-Epic Battle Cheney vs. Obama: The No-So-Epic Battle

Jon Stewart surveys the coverage and content of President Obama's and Dick Cheney's concurrent national security speeches.

May 22, 2009 / The Daily Show

The Long Goodbye? The Book Business and its Woes The Long Goodbye? The Book Business and its Woes

Book publishers have always predicted that the end was nigh. When it does come they will have only themselves to blame.

May 20, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Elisabeth Sifton

No Ideas but in Crowds: Baudelaire’s Paris Spleen No Ideas but in Crowds: Baudelaire’s Paris Spleen

In Paris Spleen, Charles Baudelaire crystallized a new feeling: the private life of the public turn.

May 20, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Joshua Clover

Comfort and Agony: Jennifer Moxley’s Clampdown Comfort and Agony: Jennifer Moxley’s Clampdown

Instead of offering healing or empowerment, the poetry of Jennifer Moxley explores vulnerability and "wrong life."

May 20, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko

Back Talk: Philip Alcabes Back Talk: Philip Alcabes

Epidemiologist Philip Alcabes discusses the social fears surrounding epidemics and why risk can't be eliminated from life.

May 20, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Christine Smallwood

Adaptation: On Literary Darwinism Adaptation: On Literary Darwinism

If art is a product of the mind, and the mind a product of evolution, is art a product of evolution?

May 20, 2009 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz

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