A Garden of Monsters
Carmen Boullosa : South America
The imaginary fascists in Roberto Bolaño's ironic encyclopedia Nazi Literature in the Americas bear a complex relationship to reality.
2007
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Lippmann and the News
Michael Schudson : Media Analysis
In the early 1900s Walter Lippman laid the groundrules for public debate in America. Have the US media followed his prescriptions?
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The Political Doris Lessing
The winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature is every bit as political as her predecessors.
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Debating Ahmadinejad at Columbia
Jayati Vora : Higher Education
Columbia University President Lee Bollinger's combative remarks tarnish an otherwise illuminating event.
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The Passenger
Andrew Rice : Journalists & Journalism
In a posthumously published memoir, Ryszard Kapuscinski looks back on his life as a pathbreaking literary journalist who covered the Third World during the cold war.
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Clowns With Kalashnikovs
James Miller : Autobiography & Memoir
In his memoir, Régis Debray describes the evolution of his politics from his early days as a revolutionary to his later work advising the nominally socialist François Mitterrand.
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Studs Terkel, Listener
Calvin Trillin : Journalists & Journalism
In celebration of Studs Terkel's 95th birthday, here's a tribute to a writer whose curiosity and generosity of spirit embraces everyone, without regard to rank or station.
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Kurt Vonnegut
Vonnegut's best novels were as profound as any writing that deals with ultimate questions.
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God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut
John Leonard : Books, Literature, & Ideas
Kurt Vonnegut, who passed away Wednesday, will be remembered for his brilliant, cynical and often depressing humor.
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The Restless Mind
Jeremy Harding : Cultural Criticism & Analysis
At the Same Time, Susan Sontag's posthumous collection of essays and speeches, reveals her rapt attention to the world around her.
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The Strains of Inspiration
The Friendship describes how Wordsworth and Coleridge's fiercely uneven relationship affected their lives and work.
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The Thought Experimenter
A new biography of William James portrays a man who made a brilliant career of asking tough questions.
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The Close Reader
William Empson's writing shaped modern criticism. A new biography restores him to his proper eminence.
2006
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The Poet and the Muse
A new collection of letters between Rainer Maria Rilke and Lou Andreas-Salome reveals an intimate portrait of a poet and his muse.
2005
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Gore Vidal, Octocontrarian
Marc Cooper interviews Gore Vidal about an America that is increasingly controlled by corporations and suggests that the Gulf Coast hurricanes and the Iraq debacle signal the breakdown of an empire.
2004
This week: Will racism or sexism win the day? Plus: Esther Kaplan on workplace safety and Steven Greenhouse on the struggle facing younger workers. (13mb mp3)
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