Books & the Arts

Did Beyoncé Conquer Country Music? Did Beyoncé Conquer Country Music?

On Cowboy Carter, the pop superstar’s bid to radicalize a parochial genre falls short.

Books & the Arts / Stephen Kearse

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

And how we can save it.

Books & the Arts / Kate Wagner

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.

Books & the Arts / Stephanie Burt

From the Magazine

What Happened to the Democratic Majority?

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

Sara Ahmed and the Joys of Killjoy Feminism

Sara Ahmed and the Joys of Killjoy Feminism Sara Ahmed and the Joys of Killjoy Feminism

To be a feminist killjoy means celebrating a different kind of joy, the joy that comes from doing critical damage to what damages so much of the world.

Books & the Arts / Judith Butler

The Era of Nicki Minaj

The Era of Nicki Minaj The Era of Nicki Minaj

How the queen of rap revolutionized American music.

Books & the Arts / Bijan Stephen

Literary Criticism

The Magic of Reading Bernard Malamud

The Magic of Reading Bernard Malamud The Magic of Reading Bernard Malamud

His work, unlike that of Bellow or Roth, focused on the lives of often impoverished Jews in Brooklyn and the Bronx and bestowed on them a literary magic.

Books & the Arts / Vivian Gornick

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

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

Heather Cox Richardson and the Battle Over US History

Heather Cox Richardson and the Battle Over US History Heather Cox Richardson and the Battle Over US History

One interpretation presents the country as irredeemably tainted by its past. Another contends that the United States has also tended toward egalitarianism.

Books & the Arts / Kim Phillips-Fein

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

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

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

Artemisia Gentileschi's “Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes” (detail), c. 1623–25.

A Hidden History of Europe’s Pre-Modernist Women Artists A Hidden History of Europe’s Pre-Modernist Women Artists

A recent exhibition documenting four centuries of art from female painters and illustrators provides a new way of looking at an era of art history where women are often left out.

Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky

Film & Television

A scene from About Dry Grasses.

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

The Metaphysical Horror of “The Curse”

The Metaphysical Horror of “The Curse” The Metaphysical Horror of “The Curse”

From its first moments to its antic end, the series exposes its viewers to an abundance of anxious perturbation but it does something else too: It reveals the absurdity all around…

Books & the Arts / Sarah Chihaya

The Odd Couples of “Drive-Away Dolls”

The Odd Couples of “Drive-Away Dolls” The Odd Couples of “Drive-Away Dolls”

Ethan Coen’s horny homage to American film history’s many strains of queer comedy highlights the collaborative aspect inherent in his project as a director.

Books & the Arts / Vikram Murthi

Latest in Books & the Arts

Lauren Oyler and the Critic in the Internet Age

Lauren Oyler and the Critic in the Internet Age Lauren Oyler and the Critic in the Internet Age

In No Judgment, the novelist and critic explores the perilous activity of literary criticism in the era of social media.

Apr 10, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Alana Pockros

How Did Joe Biden’s Foreign Policy Go So Off Course?

How Did Joe Biden’s Foreign Policy Go So Off Course? How Did Joe Biden’s Foreign Policy Go So Off Course?

The president set out to chart a more pacific and humane foreign policy after the Trump years but at some point he and his team of advisers lost the plot.

Apr 9, 2024 / Books & the Arts / David Klion

The End of  “Curb Your Enthusiasm” Marks the End of an Era

The End of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” Marks the End of an Era The End of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” Marks the End of an Era

Larry David is the last of his kind—and in several ways.

Apr 8, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Bessner

The Mexican Conquest: A Story Told in the Conditional Tense

The Mexican Conquest: A Story Told in the Conditional Tense The Mexican Conquest: A Story Told in the Conditional Tense

Restaging the meeting between Moctezuma and Hernán Cortés, Álvaro Enrigue’s You Dreamed of Empires explores how little we still know about this moment in history.

Apr 4, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Lucas Iberico Lozada

NSA headquarters in Washington, D.C., 2006.

Lurking in the Shadows of the Deep State Lurking in the Shadows of the Deep State

A conversation with the journalist Kerry Howley about her reporting on whistleblowers, drone warfare, and an upcoming film adaptation of her writing on NSA leaker Reality Winner. …

Apr 3, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Rhoda Feng

Olga Ravn’s Novel of Parenting and Its Discontents

Olga Ravn’s Novel of Parenting and Its Discontents Olga Ravn’s Novel of Parenting and Its Discontents

In My Work, the novelist examines the trials and tribulations of being a mother.

Apr 2, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Jess Cotton

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