Language Arts

Shelf Life Shelf Life

Robert Neer’s Napalm: An American Biography; Juliette Volcler’s Extremely Loud: Sound as a Weapon

Sep 10, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Peter C. Baker

Great Perturbations: On George Packer

Great Perturbations: On George Packer Great Perturbations: On George Packer

The Unwinding is a fine-grained account of economic collapse that runs aground on causeless abstractions.

Sep 10, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Chris Lehmann

Jester and Priest: On Leszek Kolakowski

Jester and Priest: On Leszek Kolakowski Jester and Priest: On Leszek Kolakowski

How the great Polish philosopher went from being an anticlerical scourge to an apostle of John Paul II.

Sep 4, 2013 / Books & the Arts / John Connelly

More of Less

More of Less More of Less

Thomas Hirschhorn’s unmonumental monument to egalitarianism and Antonio Gramsci.

Sep 4, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky

Summer’s Fall: White House Down

Summer’s Fall: White House Down Summer’s Fall: White House Down

The happy ending to Hollywood’s summer: not guy gets girl but guy gets job.

Sep 4, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Joshua Clover

The Colonist of Good Will: On Albert Camus

The Colonist of Good Will: On Albert Camus The Colonist of Good Will: On Albert Camus

Algerian Chronicles shows that Camus still has something to say to us—not about terrorism but economic justice.

Aug 27, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Thomas Meaney

Drawing the Line: Architects and Prisons

Drawing the Line: Architects and Prisons Drawing the Line: Architects and Prisons

A call for architects to refuse to design chambers of living death.

Aug 27, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Michael Sorkin

Eating a Macintosh Apple Eating a Macintosh Apple

Eating a Macintosh apple she showed me her crumpled lips. And afterward she didn’t know what to do she couldn’t even discard that small mangled thing that more and more turned yellow in her hand. And daylight’s the time to get drunk when the body still waits for surprises from light and from rhythm, when it still has the energy to invent a disaster. (translated from the Italian by David Shapiro with Gini Alhadeff)

Aug 27, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Patrizia Cavalli

Two Hours Ago I Fell in Love Two Hours Ago I Fell in Love

Two hours ago I fell in love and trembled, and tremble still, and haven’t a clue whom I should tell. (translated from the Italian by Mark Strand)

Aug 27, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Patrizia Cavalli

World-Historical Worries

World-Historical Worries World-Historical Worries

David Lowery’s Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium, Andrew Bujalski’s Computer Chess

Aug 27, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

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