Books & the Arts
The Discontents of Michel Houellebecq The Discontents of Michel Houellebecq
What happened to the French novelist?
The Impossible Story of Communism The Impossible Story of Communism
How do you tell the history of a global movement in all its hope and contradiction?
The Long History of the “Elsewhere Museum” The Long History of the “Elsewhere Museum”
Can the ethnographic museum be reinvented?
The Apprenticeship of Donald Trump The Apprenticeship of Donald Trump
A new film examines Trump’s formative years under the tutelage of Roy Cohn.
From the Magazine
Emily Oster and the Optimization of Parenting Emily Oster and the Optimization of Parenting
What gets lost when we approach pregnancy and raising children through data?
Can New York’s Most Famous Street be Turned into a Park? Can New York’s Most Famous Street be Turned into a Park?
The effort to transform Broadway into a pedestrian space.
The Rise of the Influencer Chefs The Rise of the Influencer Chefs
How a new generation of food TV on Tiktok and Instagram is remaking how we relate to cooking and eating.
Literary Criticism
Danzy Senna’s Acerbic Satires of Art and Money Danzy Senna’s Acerbic Satires of Art and Money
Having gnawed away at literary and political conventions from within their hallowed forms, Senna has now set her eyes on Hollywood.
Sally Rooney’s Open Question Sally Rooney’s Open Question
In Intermezzo, we get characters acting out their political commitments instead of just talking about them. But is their vision of domestic cooperation enough?
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.
History & Politics
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?
The Intractable Puzzle of Growth The Intractable Puzzle of Growth
For more than a century, the key measure of a healthy economy has been its capacity to grow and yet if production and consumption continues to expand at their current rate we migh…
The Radical Past and Future of Debt Resistance The Radical Past and Future of Debt Resistance
The deep roots of debt relief activism in the United States.
Art & Architecture
The Cosmopolitan Modernism of the Harlem Renaissance The Cosmopolitan Modernism of the Harlem Renaissance
A new exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art explores the world-spanning art of the Harlem Renaissance.
Rain and Mountains Rain and Mountains
Pages from a novelist’s notebook.
What’s the Deal With Manhattan’s Pencil-Thin High Rises? What’s the Deal With Manhattan’s Pencil-Thin High Rises?
A walk along 57th Street.
Film & Television
The Empty Promise of “Megalopolis” The Empty Promise of “Megalopolis”
Francis Ford Coppola’s long-awaited magnum opus is a flop.
“Industry”’s Gleeful Critique of Capital “Industry”’s Gleeful Critique of Capital
HBO’s investment banking drama makes a soap opera out of the “useless” but lurid nature of finance.
“Anora,” an American Fantasia “Anora,” an American Fantasia
In Sean Baker’s tragicomic film of a sex worker’s brush with wealth, he evokes auteurs of yore, who focused on the social realities of the country’s outcasts.
Latest in Books & the Arts
The Peculiar Case of Ignatius Donnelly The Peculiar Case of Ignatius Donnelly
The Minnesota politician presents a riddle for historians. He was a beloved populist but also a crackpot conspiracist. Were his politics tainted by his strange beliefs?
Dec 12, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Andrew Katzenstein
The Agony of Aaron Rodgers The Agony of Aaron Rodgers
Is he the world’s most interesting athlete or is he just a washed-up crackpot?
Dec 11, 2024 / Books & the Arts / John Semley
Can You Understand Ireland Through One Family’s Terrible Secret? Can You Understand Ireland Through One Family’s Terrible Secret?
In Missing Persons, Clair Wills’s intimate story of institutionalized Irish women and children, shows how a family’s history and a nation’s history run in parallel.
Dec 10, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Emily McBride
Peter Schjeldahl’s Pleasure Principle Peter Schjeldahl’s Pleasure Principle
His art criticism fixated on the narcissism of the entire enterprise. But over six decades, his work proved that a critic could be an artist too.
Dec 9, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Zachary Fine
How the Western Literary Canon Made the World Worse How the Western Literary Canon Made the World Worse
A talk with Dionne Brand about her recent book, Salvage, which looks at how the classic texts of Anglo-American fiction helped abet the crimes of capitalism, colonialism, and more…
Dec 5, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Elias Rodriques
Along the Roads That Built Modern Brazil Along the Roads That Built Modern Brazil
José Henrique Bortoluci’s What Is Mine tells the story of his country’s laborers, like his father, who built its infrastructure, and in turn its fractious politics.
Dec 4, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Jimin Kang