Culture

Why “The Voice of Hind Rajab” Will Break Your Heart Why “The Voice of Hind Rajab” Will Break Your Heart

A film dramatizing a rescue crew’s attempts to save the 5-year-old Gazan girl might be one of the most affecting movies of the year.

Books & the Arts / Ahmed Moor

How Laura Poitras Finds the Truth How Laura Poitras Finds the Truth

The director has a knack for getting people to tell her things they’ve never told anyone else—including her latest subject, Seymour Hersh.

Books & the Arts / Kevin Lozano

Organized Labor at a Crossroads Organized Labor at a Crossroads

How can unions adapt to a new landscape of work?

Books & the Arts / Nelson Lichtenstein

Books

Seattle, Washington, 2022.

Organized Labor at a Crossroads Organized Labor at a Crossroads

How can unions adapt to a new landscape of work?

Books & the Arts / Nelson Lichtenstein

Idi Amin in Kampala, 1975.

Mahmood Mamdani’s Uganda Mahmood Mamdani’s Uganda

In his new book Slow Poison, the accomplished anthropologist revisits the Idi Amin and Yoweri Museveni years.

Books & the Arts / Howard W. French

Helen DeWitt and Ilya Gridneff’s Sweeping Anti-War Novel

Helen DeWitt and Ilya Gridneff’s Sweeping Anti-War Novel Helen DeWitt and Ilya Gridneff’s Sweeping Anti-War Novel

Your Name Here dramatizes the tensions and possibilities of political art.

Books & the Arts / Jess Bergman

Film

How Laura Poitras Finds the Truth How Laura Poitras Finds the Truth

The director has a knack for getting people to tell her things they’ve never told anyone else—including her latest subject, Seymour Hersh.

Books & the Arts / Kevin Lozano

Rob Reiner’s Legacy Can’t Be Sullied by Trump’s Shameful Attacks Rob Reiner’s Legacy Can’t Be Sullied by Trump’s Shameful Attacks

The late actor and director leaves behind a roster of classic films—and a much safer and juster California.

Ben Schwartz

One Buyout After Another One Buyout After Another

The multibillion-dollar takeover bids targeting Warner Bros. Discovery show how Trump’s corrupt model of governance-by-payback could destroy Hollywood.

Ben Schwartz

Jafar Panahi Will Not Be Stopped Jafar Panahi Will Not Be Stopped

Imprisoned and censored by his home country of Iran, the legendary director discusses his furtive filmmaking.

Q&A / Nick Hilden

Television

Rob Reiner backstage at the Late Night With Seth Meyers show this September.

Rob Reiner’s Legacy Can’t Be Sullied by Trump’s Shameful Attacks Rob Reiner’s Legacy Can’t Be Sullied by Trump’s Shameful Attacks

The late actor and director leaves behind a roster of classic films—and a much safer and juster California.

Ben Schwartz

A still from the doomed McDonald's AI-generated holiday ad.

The Slop of Things to Come The Slop of Things to Come

This past week boasted many overhyped AI breakthroughs, but the healthiest one was the fierce repudiation of a contemptuous McDonald’s ad.

Matt Alston

The Warner Bros. Discovery flag alongside the American one, outside Warsaw’s TVN broadcasting studio

One Buyout After Another One Buyout After Another

The multibillion-dollar takeover bids targeting Warner Bros. Discovery show how Trump’s corrupt model of governance-by-payback could destroy Hollywood.

Ben Schwartz

Architecture

A still from “After the Hunt.”

The Messy Campus Thriller of “After the Hunt” The Messy Campus Thriller of “After the Hunt”

Luca Guadagnino’s films have always asked viewers to turn off their brains when it comes to love and sex. In his new film, he asks the opposite.

Books & the Arts / Lovia Gyarkye

An undated photograph of Bush Terminal.

The Transformation of the New York Waterfront The Transformation of the New York Waterfront

From the Navy Yard and Industry City to the recent remaking of Bush Terminal, developers are attempting to remake Brooklyn’s coastline.

Books & the Arts / Karrie Jacobs

Your Dream House Might Be a Fantasy

Your Dream House Might Be a Fantasy Your Dream House Might Be a Fantasy

AI has has invaded the real estate industry, dissolving the boundaries between image enhancement and false advertising.

Kate Wagner

Music

The Sonic Risks of PUP and Rico Nasty The Sonic Risks of PUP and Rico Nasty

On their new albums, the punk rockers and rapper break all the rules.

Books & the Arts / Bijan Stephen

“It’s a Warning, Set to a Dance Beat”: Jon Batiste on His New Song 20 Years After Katrina “It’s a Warning, Set to a Dance Beat”: Jon Batiste on His New Song 20 Years After Katrina

The New Orleans jazz great tells Covering Climate Now, “When you make a song, you want to inspire people, but you also want to let them know what they can do.”

Mark Hertsgaard

Ozzy Osbourne, Rock God Despite Himself (1948–2025) Ozzy Osbourne, Rock God Despite Himself (1948–2025)

The Prince of Darkness, who gave us heavy metal as we know it, has been laid to rest.

Obituary / Kim Kelly

The Life and Times of Talking Heads The Life and Times of Talking Heads

How influential was the New Wave band?

Books & the Arts / David Hajdu

Publishing

Chester Himes’s Harlem Noirs

Chester Himes’s Harlem Noirs Chester Himes’s Harlem Noirs

Himes helped reinvent the idea of the detective novel. He also transformed it into a powerful vehicle for social criticism.

Books & the Arts / Gene Seymour

James Baldwin’s Radical Politics of Love

James Baldwin’s Radical Politics of Love James Baldwin’s Radical Politics of Love

While Baldwin was persecuted in part because of whom he loved, it was love that impelled him to bring about a more utopian future in which such persecution was not possible.

Books & the Arts / Elias Rodriques

Commentary editor John Podhoretz sits in front of a microphone with “Book Expo” written on it.

Militarism Has Long Worked to Shield Antisemitism Militarism Has Long Worked to Shield Antisemitism

From the Cold War till Donald Trump, there’s always been a special dispensation for hawkish bigots.

Jeet Heer

Latest in Culture

Big Event

Big Event Big Event

Happy birthday, Sandy!

Dec 16, 2025 / Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer speaks during the Senate Democrats’ news conference on extending expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits in the US Capitol on December 4, 2025.

Republicans and Obamacare, Again—Plus, Early, Early Bob Dylan Republicans and Obamacare, Again—Plus, Early, Early Bob Dylan

On this episode of Start Making Sense, John Nichols has our political update, and Sean Wilentz talks about the latest release in the Dylan Bootleg series.

Dec 10, 2025 / Jon Wiener

A Visceral Look at the Impossible Task of Mothering 

A Visceral Look at the Impossible Task of Mothering  A Visceral Look at the Impossible Task of Mothering 

Mary Bronstein’s “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” is at once harrowing and mesmerizing.

Nov 24, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Beatrice Loayza

Nazi governor of Poland Hans Frank at the Nuremberg Trials, 1946.

Rethinking Nuremberg for the 21st Century Rethinking Nuremberg for the 21st Century

The new film Nuremberg may tell us as much about the present as about the past.

Nov 10, 2025 / Elizabeth Borgwardt

An engraving depicting a sansculottes offering a Phrygian cap to King Louis XVI.

The Invention of the Modern Self The Invention of the Modern Self

How did the idea of the individual come into being?

Nov 10, 2025 / Books & the Arts / David A. Bell

Joachim Trier’s Nostalgic Lens

Joachim Trier’s Nostalgic Lens Joachim Trier’s Nostalgic Lens

In Sentimental Value, the Norwegian filmmaker’s most ambitious work yet, he examines the porous boundary between art and life.

Nov 7, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Alana Pockros

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