February 14, 1989: Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran Issues a Fatwa Calling for the Murder of Salman Rushdie February 14, 1989: Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran Issues a Fatwa Calling for the Murder of Salman Rushdie
In The Nation, Christopher Hitchens called the episode ”a moment of education to fix in the mind.”
Feb 14, 2015 / Richard Kreitner and The Almanac
The Videogame That Yanis Varoufakis Used to Study the Eurozone The Videogame That Yanis Varoufakis Used to Study the Eurozone
Greece’s new finance minister has studied a huge, functioning economy in incredible detail already—through an online multiplayer videogame.
Feb 12, 2015 / Helen Lewis
February 12, 1924: George Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ Premieres in New York February 12, 1924: George Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ Premieres in New York
It was “a new chapter to our musical history,” The Nation’s reviewer averred.
Feb 12, 2015 / Richard Kreitner and The Almanac
Always Already Alienated Always Already Alienated
Ben Lerner and the novel of detachment.
Feb 11, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Jon Baskin
American Shooter American Shooter
Clint Eastwood’s shoot ’em up is remorseless, racist fantasy.
Feb 11, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Forget Where I Heard It Forget Where I Heard It
With pigeon force the air men come clattering. It would be sad if it wasn’t so funny, one swore. Stay out of the nettles. Do not live above the shop. His men may find you there. Otherwise, as coma says, my beans, my peas, my coma get read into the riot act. That comes later. After three decades of futility, you have to ask: Who was this composer? Was he known for anything else? Is the mere survival of the notes justified, or do we all survive this way, more or less?
Feb 11, 2015 / Books & the Arts / John Ashbery
Snow Snow
How did we come to this cold place? It is not listed on the maps. The cold has disarranged your face. These memories are not ours, perhaps. But still we must pretend to know the reason for things as they are. We do not recognize the snow. Perhaps that makes us what we are.
Feb 11, 2015 / Books & the Arts / William Logan
Feral Gardens Feral Gardens
Danny Cooke’s Postcards from Pripyat, Chernobyl summons a lost history of familiar and alien dreams.
Feb 11, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Joshua Clover
What Are ‘Nation’ Interns Reading the Week of 2/6/15? What Are ‘Nation’ Interns Reading the Week of 2/6/15?
What Are ‘Nation’ Interns Reading the Week of 2/6/15?
Feb 6, 2015 / Books & the Arts / StudentNation
How Rory Kennedy’s ‘Last Days in Vietnam’ Distorts History How Rory Kennedy’s ‘Last Days in Vietnam’ Distorts History
This Oscar-nominated doc is all about well-meaning Americans—with nothing about the indiscriminate US firepower that destroyed much of the country.
Feb 4, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Nick Turse