Books & the Arts

The Unanswered Questions of “True Detective” The Unanswered Questions of “True Detective”

Like a Raymond Chandler detective story, Night Country ultimately wants to turn its audience’s attention away from the mysteries of the dead toward those of the living.

Books & the Arts / Jorge Cotte

What Happened to the Democratic Majority? What Happened to the Democratic Majority?

Today the march of class dealignment feels like an inexorable fact of American political life. But is it?

Books & the Arts / Matthew Karp

The Genius of Nuri Bilge Ceylan The Genius of Nuri Bilge Ceylan

About Dry Grasses is long, dense, elliptical—and brilliant.

Books & the Arts / A. S. Hamrah

From the Magazine

Niels Vodder display wtih furniture designed by Finn Juhl, Cabinetmakers Guild Exhibition, 1949.

How Did Americans Come to Love “Mid-Century Modern”? How Did Americans Come to Love “Mid-Century Modern”?

Solving the riddle of America’s obsession with postwar design and furniture.

Books & the Arts / Marianela D’Aprile

Isabella Hammad’s Novel of Art and Exile in Palestine

Isabella Hammad’s Novel of Art and Exile in Palestine Isabella Hammad’s Novel of Art and Exile in Palestine

Enter the Ghost looks at a group of Palestinians who try to put on a production of Hamlet in the occupied West Bank. 

Books & the Arts / Raja Shehadeh

Nuremberg, 1923.

The First Time the Nazis Tried to Take Power The First Time the Nazis Tried to Take Power

The year that broke Germany.

Books & the Arts / Richard J. Evans

Literary Criticism

Don DeLillo’s Cold Wars

Don DeLillo’s Cold Wars Don DeLillo’s Cold Wars

His 1980s novels take the story of America’s postwar years, usually seen as a triumphal rise to perpetual dominance, and converts it into one about a long and chaotic decline.

Books & the Arts / Siddhartha Deb

Illustration by Lily Qian.

The Enigmatic Science Fiction of Djuna The Enigmatic Science Fiction of Djuna

The radical visions of South Korea’s mononymous, pseudonymous, and officially anonymous sci-fi novelist and film critic.

Books & the Arts / E. Tammy Kim

The Latin School Teacher Who Made Classics Popular

The Latin School Teacher Who Made Classics Popular The Latin School Teacher Who Made Classics Popular

A new biography of Edith Hamilton tells the story of how and why ancient literature became widely read in the United States.

Books & the Arts / Emily Wilson

History & Politics

Liberties: A Magazine in Revolt Against the New

Liberties: A Magazine in Revolt Against the New Liberties: A Magazine in Revolt Against the New

Tolerance, rigor, open-mindedness, and a willingness to countenance doubt and contradiction apparently are all values the magazine champions in theory but tends to ignore in pract…

Books & the Arts / David Klion

Naomi Klein’s Quest to Understand Her Double

Naomi Klein’s Quest to Understand Her Double Naomi Klein’s Quest to Understand Her Double

In her new book, a case of mistaken identity reveals how life online and off has become more and more polarized. 

Books & the Arts / Laura Kipnis

How Did Marxism Become Marxism?

How Did Marxism Become Marxism? How Did Marxism Become Marxism?

A new book examines a set of thinkers and activists who helped transform a set of radical ideas into a political tradition.

Books & the Arts / Peter E. Gordon

Art & Architecture

Raymond Jonson, Casein Tempera No. 1, 1939.

The Curious Case of the Transcendental Painting Group The Curious Case of the Transcendental Painting Group

A touring exhibition of 20th-century painting from the American Southwest is poised to be the next big art world hit. Yet the show forces us to ask: What is fueling the revival?

Books & the Arts / Max Pearl

A draughtsman, circa 1940.

What’s the Matter With Contemporary Architecture? What’s the Matter With Contemporary Architecture?

In his new book, Reinier de Graaf attempts to work out why his profession appears to be at an impasse.

Books & the Arts / Marianela D’Aprile

Frank Bowling, 1962.

“The Subject of Painting Is Paint”: On Frank Bowling “The Subject of Painting Is Paint”: On Frank Bowling

The British artist’s work challenges all notions you might have about the relationship between politics and aesthetics.

Books & the Arts / John-Baptiste Oduor

Film & Television

Steve McQueen and Jonathan Glazer Confront the Holocaust 

Steve McQueen and Jonathan Glazer Confront the Holocaust  Steve McQueen and Jonathan Glazer Confront the Holocaust 

In Zones of Interest and Occupied City, the two filmmakers attempt to depict the ordinary fascism and everyday violence of World War II.

Books & the Arts / J. Hoberman

Joaquin Phoenix in “Napoleon.”

History According to Ridley Scott History According to Ridley Scott

Ultimately what we learn in Napoleon says far more about the director than it does about Napoleon.

Books & the Arts / Mike Duncan

Natalie Portman as Elizabeth Berry and Julianne Moore as Gracie Atherton-Yoo in “May December.”

The Uncanny Façades of “May December” The Uncanny Façades of “May December”

Todd Haynes’s discomfiting and hypnotic suburban melodrama examines topics the director knows well: sex, taboo, and control.

Books & the Arts / Beatrice Loayza

Latest in Books & the Arts

Lucy Sante

Lucy Sante and the Solitude and Solidarity of Transitioning Lucy Sante and the Solitude and Solidarity of Transitioning

In her new memoir, I Heard Her Call My Name, Sante dissects her past in order to understand her future.

Mar 18, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Stephanie Burt

Molly Ranson, Nael Nacer, and Aria Shahghasemi in “Prayer for the French Republic.”

A Broadway Play’s Clumsy Intervention Into Antisemitism A Broadway Play’s Clumsy Intervention Into Antisemitism

Prayer for the French Republic is among a spate of recent dramas devoted to the precarity of Jewish life at the expense of solidarity.

Mar 14, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Alisa Solomon

Bad Brains in London, 1987.

Black Punk Means Liberation Black Punk Means Liberation

The present and future of Black punk culture.

Mar 13, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Marc Bayard

What Happened to the 21st-Century City?

What Happened to the 21st-Century City? What Happened to the 21st-Century City?

And how we can save it.

Mar 12, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Kate Wagner

Who Is In Charge in the Biden White House?

Who Is In Charge in the Biden White House? Who Is In Charge in the Biden White House?

In The Last Politician, Franklin Foer offers a portrait of an administration at odds with itself. 

Mar 11, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Osita Nwanevu

Dune: Part Two

What’s Missing From “Dune: Part Two” What’s Missing From “Dune: Part Two”

While Frank Herbert’s original series was about the dangers of messianism, Denis Villeneuve’s rendition wields ambivalence like a secret weapon in its effort to avoid the tough qu…

Mar 8, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Jorge Cotte

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