Culture

A scene from the 1967 film “The Battle of Algiers” showing French paratrooper Colonel Mathieu—played by Jean Martin—walking past a a cheering throng.

May Day Films to Inspire You With Solidarity May Day Films to Inspire You With Solidarity

From Modern Times to Harlan County, USA.

Apr 30, 2026 / Erik Loomis

Early movie house interior with audience and piano player, 1913.

Esther Kinsky’s Celluloid Dreams Esther Kinsky’s Celluloid Dreams

In Seeing Further, a novel obsessed with the tactile feeling of arthouse cinema, the sad state of our moviegoing comes into focus.

Apr 28, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Walker Rutter-Bowman

Susan Te Kahurangi King’s “Untitled,” 2022.

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, 1986.

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

Georg Simmel, 1914.

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

A broken piano in the music room of the abandoned Southwestern High School.

Drowning Out the Noise Drowning Out the Noise

How music became the cathartic refuge for my political frustration.

Apr 18, 2026 / Andrew Marzoni

Larry McMurtry, 1978.

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

Hasan Piker speaks at the Yale Political Union event.

Inside Yale’s Hasan Piker Spectacle Inside Yale’s Hasan Piker Spectacle

The Twitch streamer’s invitation to debate at the Yale Political Union drew the ire of Laura Loomer, Rick Scott, and Turning Point USA.

Apr 16, 2026 / StudentNation / Zachary Clifton

America’s True Fascist Architectural Legacy

America’s True Fascist Architectural Legacy America’s True Fascist Architectural Legacy

It’s not the kitschy White House ballroom—it’s logistics warehouses converted to ICE detention centers.

Apr 15, 2026 / Column / Kate Wagner

The Strange Afterlife of Confederate Monuments

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

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