Revisiting the Advent of the Abstract Revisiting the Advent of the Abstract
A recent gallery exhibition on abstract art and self-taught artists proposes a new story for the rise of abstraction.
Apr 23, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
Wolfgang Koeppen—“Poet of Failure” Wolfgang Koeppen—“Poet of Failure”
The German writer’s postwar works were ruthless in their condemnation of a country that, in its inability to reckon with historical atrocity, was beyond reform.
Apr 22, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Pankaj Mishra
The Conflicted Origins of Sociology The Conflicted Origins of Sociology
Kwame Appiah Anthony’s Captive Gods examines how the founders of the discipline responded to a widespread decline in Christianity in the late 19th century.
Apr 20, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Alec Gewirtz
Larry McMurtry’s Tall Tales Larry McMurtry’s Tall Tales
By questioning the myth of the cowboy, he offered a different kind of legend, one more suited to this country and its contradictions.
Apr 16, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Gus O’Connor
The Strange Afterlife of Confederate Monuments The Strange Afterlife of Confederate Monuments
“Monuments” an exhibition in Los Angeles, interrogates the changing meanings of Civil War-era statues and their ability to shape historical narrative.
Apr 15, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Pujan Karambeigi
The Enduring Lessons of the Jewish Bund The Enduring Lessons of the Jewish Bund
A conversation with Molly Crabapple about “Here Where We Live Is Our Country,” her history of Bundism, and what we can learn from their socialist and anti-Zionist example.
Apr 10, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Ishan Desai-Geller
The Worlds of Jamaica Kincaid The Worlds of Jamaica Kincaid
Memory pervades a new collection of nonfiction, and so do the ghosts of empire.
Apr 8, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Edna Bonhomme
Ben Lerner’s Novel of Fathers and Sons Ben Lerner’s Novel of Fathers and Sons
His most experimental and unsettling book, Transcription as us whether art is futile or the most important weapon we have.
Apr 7, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Tara K. Menon
What Happened to Tucker Carlson? What Happened to Tucker Carlson?
The transformation of a once promising, if conservative, magazine journalist into a conspiracy-minded talking head.
Apr 7, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Chris Lehmann