Shelf Life Shelf Life
The Complete Jean Vigo, Travis Wilkerson’s An Injury to One.
Jan 25, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Akiva Gottlieb
The Foundation Business: On Olivier Zunz The Foundation Business: On Olivier Zunz
There’s more to American nonprofits than the success of wealthy donors and their large foundations.
Jan 25, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Pablo Eisenberg
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
Is the World Really Safer Without the Soviet Union? Is the World Really Safer Without the Soviet Union?
Instead of a new era of democracy, disarmament and interdependence, we have had unchecked militarism and economic crisis.
Dec 22, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Mikhail S. Gorbachev
The Soviet Union’s Afterlife The Soviet Union’s Afterlife
Twenty years later, questions endure about how and why the nation abruptly dissolved.
Dec 22, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Stephen F. Cohen
Back in the USSR Back in the USSR
Ever since 1991, Russians have been looking to the Soviet past for comfort and pride.
Dec 22, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Vadim Nikitin
An Opening in Burma? On Thant Myint-U An Opening in Burma? On Thant Myint-U
Hopes for reform in Burma are starting to be fulfilled, but skepticism of its rulers is still warranted.
Dec 14, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Joshua Kurlantzick
Of Saints and Caudillos: On Enrique Krauze Of Saints and Caudillos: On Enrique Krauze
A Mexican intellectual takes the measure of liberalism and revolution in twentieth-century Latin America.
Dec 6, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Jorge Volpi
The Real J. Edgar The Real J. Edgar
Clint Eastwood's cinematic exploration of the FBI chief's rise to power is little more than a comforting myth.
Nov 30, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Beverly Gage
The First and the Last of Everything The First and the Last of Everything
The first fine dawn of life on earth The first cry of Man in the first light The first firefly flickering at night The first Noble Savage with the first erection The first song of love and forty cries of despair The first voyage of Vikings westward The first sighting of the New World from the crow’s nest of a Spanish galleon The first Pale Face meeting the first Native American The first Dutch trader in Mannahatta The first settler on the first frontier The first Home Sweet Home so dear The first wagon train westward The first sighting of the Pacific by Lewis & Clark The first cry of “Mark, twain!” on the Mississippi The first desegregation by Huck & Jim on a raft at night The first buffalo-head nickel and the last buffalo The first barbed-wire fence and the last of the open range The last cowboy on the last frontier The first skyscraper in America The first home run hit at Yankee Stadium The first ballpark hot dog with mustard The last War to End All Wars The last Wobbly and the last Catholic Anarchist The last living member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade The last bohemian in a beret The last homespun politician and the first stolen election The first plane to hit the first Twin Tower The birth of a vast national paranoia The first president to become an international criminal for crimes against humanity making America a terrorist state The dark dawn of American corporate fascism The next-to-last free speech radio The next-to-last independent newspaper raising hell The next-to-last independent bookstore with a mind of its own The next-to-last Lefty looking for Obama Nirvana The first fine day of the Wall Street Occupation to set forth upon this continent a new nation! Click here to listen to Ferlinghetti read this poem.
Nov 30, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Lawrence Ferlinghetti