Cultural Comment
The Unoriginal Originality of Led Zeppelin
By Alex Ross
If “Stairway to Heaven” is plagiarized, so is a good portion of the classical canon.
Culture
Richard Brody
“The Girlfriend Experience” Is Not an Experience
By Richard Brody
The rigid format of serial television gets the better of the talented filmmakers who wrote and directed the new Starz series.
Culture Desk
Click Here to Visit Hell
By Alexandra Schwartz
An online exhibit of Hieronymus Bosch’s “Garden of Earthly Delights” presents a magnificently intimate view of its glory.
Goings on About Town
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Goings On About Town
Kiki & Herb Reunite
The cabaret duo brings their tipsy, scorched-earth revelry to Joe’s Pub.
Dance
Monica Bill Barnes / “Happy Hour”
Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center
More Dance »The Critics
Books
The American Soldiers of the Spanish Civil War
By Caleb Crain
Young and idealistic, they signed up to fight Fascism, but were quickly disillusioned.
Pop Music
A New Vision of J Dilla
By Hua Hsu
A posthumous release of his album “The Diary” complicates his legacy.
Books
The Sexual Politics of Syntax
By Dan Chiasson
Rosmarie Waldrop’s work finds beauty and feminism in the lacunae between words.
A Critic at Large
The Raw Appeal of “Game of Thrones”
By Clive James
Binge-watching the most addictive show on television.
Photo Booth
What Does Innocence Look Like?
By Lucy McKeon
Despite their cheery youthful clutter, Ebony G. Patterson’s portraits of black children and teen-agers also hint at violence.
Spotlight
Letter from Italy
The Psychedelic Garden of Tuscany
By Ariel Levy
Niki de Saint Phalle’s sculpture park, dreamed up in an asylum, was the capstone of a tempestuous life in art.
American Chronicles
The Voyeur’s Motel
By Gay Talese
Fifty years ago, Gerald Foos bought a motel and rigged it up in order to watch his guests having sex. He saw a lot more than that.
Profiles
Performance Art that Doesn’t Bore
By Calvin Tomkins
Ragnar Kjartansson’s work combines Nordic gloom and non-ironic humor, which has made him one of the busiest artists on the planet.
Letter from La Paz
Fine Dining for a Better World?
By Carolyn Kormann
Gustu is the most ambitious restaurant in La Paz, Bolivia—and an experiment in social uplift.
Podcasts
Politics and More Podcast
Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst Talk to David Haglund About Portraying the Transgender Experience
David Haglund talks to Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst, who serve as co-producers on Jill Soloway’s hit series, “Transparent.”
Cultural Comments
Cultural Comment
Beverly Cleary, Age 100
By Sarah Larson
The joys and embarrassments of Cleary’s characters—of Henry Huggins and Ramona Quimby—helped so many of us understand who we are and what the world is.
Cultural Comment
A Political Satirist for the Internet Election
By Adrian Chen
The video editor Vic Berger manipulates found footage to highlight moments of absurdity on the campaign trail.
Cultural Comment
The O. J. Case Will Be With Us Forever
By Vinson Cunningham
As a near-contemporary codex, the final episode of “The People v. O. J. Simpson” was all but an unmitigated success.
Cultural Comment
The History of Aretha, in Ten Videos
By David Remnick
A collection of the greatest performances of her sixty-year career, from touring with her preacher father to a concert at the White House.
Video
Boogaloo and Graham
By Michael Lennox
In this Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning short film, two boys from nineteen-seventies Belfast discover the facts of life with help from their two pet chickens.