Trakt Marks: On Ian Frazier’s Siberia Trakt Marks: On Ian Frazier’s Siberia
Like Siberia itself, Ian Frazier's Travels in Siberia seems simply to drift off into the distance.
Jan 5, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Elaine Blair
The Gutted Writ: On Habeas Corpus The Gutted Writ: On Habeas Corpus
Habeas corpus rescued Walter Rideau from an unjust prison sentence, but during its long history the great writ has been used to muffle the sighs of prisoners as much as to reliev...
Dec 22, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Robert Perkinson
Take the Back Seat: On Chinese Consumerism Take the Back Seat: On Chinese Consumerism
Can the world sustain a country the size of China with an appetite for the good things in life on par with America's?
Dec 9, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Richard McGregor
The View From the Top Table: On Timothy Garton Ash The View From the Top Table: On Timothy Garton Ash
Timothy Garton Ash is a fine writer of "analytic reportage," but his work has lately displayed symptoms of columnitis.
Nov 10, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Stefan Collini
That Seventies Show That Seventies Show
The continuous readjustment of expectations downward: For historians like Jefferson Cowie and Judith Stein, that was the key experience of the 1970s.
Oct 20, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Rick Perlstein
Representative Women Representative Women
Christine Stansell's The Feminist Promise is a landmark book, yet is indifferent to the role of ideas in feminism's history.
Oct 6, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Martha C. Nussbaum
Fair Warning Fair Warning
In Our Orbit: Tom Engelhardt's The American Way of War.
Oct 6, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Frederick Deknatel
Unsettled: The Great Plains Unsettled: The Great Plains
The myths and misconceptions that distort the beauty and problems of the Plains.
Sep 15, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Charles Petersen
How Much Do We Learn From the First Cut of History? How Much Do We Learn From the First Cut of History?
One year later, the blockbuster Game Change can be read as much for how little election narratives explain about history as for the story of the 2008 campaign.
Sep 8, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Julian E. Zelizer
Shelf Life Shelf Life
Ruth Harris's Dreyfus; Deborah Amos's Eclipse of the Sunnis.
Sep 2, 2010 / Books & the Arts / John Palattella