Books & the Arts
A Century of Struggle in Palestine
Rashid Khalidi’s new history offers a political and personal portrait of more than a hundred years of colonization and resistance in Palestine.
Kaleem HawaJ.M. Coetzee’s States of Exile
In writing an allegory that is barely an allegory and a trilogy of novels that are often not novels, Coetzee appears to have made his own literary displacement total.
Siddhartha DebThe Many Lives of Catherine the Great
A new Hulu show presents the life of the Russian empress as a narrative of lean-in empowerment. But was it?
Sophie PinkhamFrom the Magazine
The Past and Future of Latinx Politics
Two new books look at the history of Latinx Democrats and Republicans and the role each will play in the future.
Ed MoralesMaria Reva’s Mordant and Profound Fiction
In her short story collection, Good Citizens Need Not Fear, Reva documents the chaos, joy, and serendipity of life before and after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Jennifer WilsonRun the Jewels’ Wake-up Call
While other mainstream rappers might create one song or one album dedicated to the unrest, Killer Mike and El-P have carried that torch for six years.
Marcus J. MooreHistory & Politics
The Lost History of Southern Communism
Mary Stanton’s Red, Black, White offers a close examination of the triumphs and travails of Alabama’s local Communist Party chapter.
Robert Greene IIHow Does One Tell the Story of Asian America?
Cathy Park Hong’s Minor Feelings grapples with the contradictions of Asian American experience in order to tell a story of solidarity.
Jane HuThe Making of the Radical Republicans
How did the struggle for emancipation become a mass politics?
Eric FonerEconomics
The Long Roots of Corporate Irresponsibility
Nicholas Lemann’s history of 20th century corporations, Transaction Man, shows how an unrelenting faith in the market and profit doomed the American economy.
Rick PerlsteinWhat are corporations for? In his 1962 book Capitalism and Freedom, Milton Friedman gave a blunt answer: profit. “Few trends could so thoroughly undermine the very foundations of our free society,” he argued, “as the acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than to make as much money… Continue Reading >
Literary Criticism
Jenny Offill’s Novel of Climate Dread
In Weather, Offill is reluctant to offer false comfort, but she does ask us if worrying is enough.
Tony TulathimutteLorraine Hansberry’s Radicalism
For the playwright and activist, neither liberal reform nor countercultural art were enough. The very foundations of American democracy needed to be transformed.
Elias RodriquesRicardo Piglia’s Books of Disquiet
As he witnessed the dissolution of civil society under a series of repressive governments, the Argentine novelist and critic began recording the most mundane parts of everyday life.
Jessica LoudisTelevision and Films
On the Record’s Act of Witness
Telling the stories of three women who accused Russell Simmons of sexual assault, the documentary is a powerful case study in how institutions have failed Black women.
Stephen KearseThe Tangle of Desire and Class in ‘Normal People’
The television adaptation of the Sally Rooney novel depicts how people can fall in love in a world structured by power.
Erin SchwartzShaking Up Your Perceptions
How films chosen for the Human Rights Watch Film Festival test the limits of both authority and documentary filmmaking.
Stuart KlawansHistory
How Silicon Valley Broke the Economy
The question of how to fix the tech industry is now inseparable from the question of how to fix the system of capitalism that the late 20th century gave us.
Adrian ChenOne of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs’s most audacious marketing triumphs is rarely mentioned in the paeans to his genius that remain a staple of business content farms. In 1982, Jobs offered to donate a computer to every K–12 school in America, provided Congress pass a bill giving Apple substantial tax… Continue Reading >
Poems
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May 21, 2019
Mange Meat
Alicia Mountain -
May 21, 2019
Twenty-First Century Woman / Ankle-Length Cardigans / Looking in the Mirror
Amanda Nadelberg -
April 23, 2019
Dear Melissa—
TC Tolbert -
April 23, 2019
Love Prodigal
Traci Brimhall
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The Tangle of Desire and Class in ‘Normal People’
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In Memoriam: Michael Sorkin, 1948–2020
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Living in the Shadow of Notre Dame
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The Bare Ruined Choirs of Notre Dame
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How an Artist’s Diary Can Teach Us New Ways of Seeing
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Between Mystery and Social Democracy: A Journey Through Scandinavian Crime Novels
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Harry Dodge’s ‘My Meteorite’ Is Like a Wonderful Sculpture
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N.K. Jemisin Wrote a Sci-Fi Ode to New York City—Then It Became Reality
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The Biography That Reimagined a Life—and the Genre
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The Coronavirus Means Curtains for Artists
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What Does It Mean to Remember AIDS?
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The Tangle of Desire and Class in ‘Normal People’
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J.M. Coetzee’s States of Exile
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On the Record’s Act of Witness
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The Limits of Trans Representation as We Know It
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What Truths Can You Divine From Instagram Paintings?
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How an Artist’s Diary Can Teach Us New Ways of Seeing
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Bernadette Mayer’s ‘Emotional Science Project’
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The Pandemic Is Killing Research—So Where Is University Support?
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Schools: To Open or Not to Open? That Is Not the Question.
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For Some Students, ICE’s Visa Announcement Is Life or Death
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A Lesbian Archive Sends Its Love Letter: Find History, Find Yourself
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How Latin Got Woke
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Nate Chinen’s Daring New History of Modern Jazz
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Not All Presidential Liars Are Created Equal
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Follow the Leader?
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How the DHS Can Still Arrest Journalists in Portland
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Will the Public Internet Survive?
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Máirtín Ó Cadhain: Found in Translation
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Tony Tulathimutte’s Worst-Case Scenarios