Books & the Arts
Can the Constitution Save Us? Can the Constitution Save Us?
The Constitution is often invoked as a safeguard for American democracy, but does it more often get in democracy’s way?
LaToya Ruby Frazier Rewrites the Rules of Documentary Photography LaToya Ruby Frazier Rewrites the Rules of Documentary Photography
A new career survey at the MoMA is a perfect illustration of the photographer’s mission: to reframe how viewers see the working-class and low-income people whom she counts as kin….
In Poetry’s Church In Poetry’s Church
More than a half century of the Poetry Project
Time, Space, and Annie Baker Time, Space, and Annie Baker
The playwright’s remarkable debut film, Janet Planet, immerses the viewer in the sounds and sorrow of a middle-schooler’s endless summer.
From the Magazine
Who Is In Charge in the Biden White House? Who Is In Charge in the Biden White House?
In The Last Politician, Franklin Foer offers a portrait of an administration at odds with itself.
Nell Irvin Painter’s Chronicles of Freedom Nell Irvin Painter’s Chronicles of Freedom
A new career-spanning book offers a portrait of Painter’s career as a historian, essayist, and most recently visual artist.
A Left Between Victory and Defeat A Left Between Victory and Defeat
How can the left escape burning out?
Literary Criticism
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.
The Myths of Anne Carson The Myths of Anne Carson
Throughout her long and prolific career, Carson has specialized in unexpected juxtapositions between modern life and ancient times, contemporary art and the literature of the…
The Enigma of Frantz Fanon The Enigma of Frantz Fanon
A revolutionary and an intellectual, a nationalist and a cosmopolitan, a doctor and a revolutionary, Fanon was always multiple.
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?
Sara Ahmed and the Joys of Killjoy Feminism Sara Ahmed and the Joys of Killjoy Feminism
To be a feminist killjoy means celebrating a different kind of joy, the joy that comes from doing critical damage to what damages so much of the world.
How Did Joe Biden’s Foreign Policy Go So Off Course? How Did Joe Biden’s Foreign Policy Go So Off Course?
The president set out to chart a more pacific and humane foreign policy after the Trump years but at some point he and his team of advisers lost the plot.
Art & Architecture
Isaac Julien’s Truth Isaac Julien’s Truth
Dealing with time, race, and utopias, his work challenges conventional notions of where film belongs and should be consumed.
What Happened to the 21st-Century City? What Happened to the 21st-Century City?
And how we can save it.
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 Genius of Nuri Bilge Ceylan The Genius of Nuri Bilge Ceylan
About Dry Grasses is long, dense, elliptical—and brilliant.
The Inhuman Gaze of “Evil Does Not Exist” The Inhuman Gaze of “Evil Does Not Exist”
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s new film, an eco-thriller set in a sylvan Japanese town, explores the messy entanglements of human, machine, and nature that make up planetary existence.
The Many Worlds of HBO’s “The Sympathizer” The Many Worlds of HBO’s “The Sympathizer”
The adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel is a study of migration—between identities and countries and also between different historical periods and genres.
Latest in Books & the Arts
Venita Blackburn’s Stages of Grief Venita Blackburn’s Stages of Grief
In Dead in Long Beach, California, the novelist looks at how integral lying is to any story we tell about death.
Jul 25, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Christopher Soto
Clarice Lispector’s Cosmology Clarice Lispector’s Cosmology
To understand the philosophical dimensions of her fiction you must read her 1961 novel The Apple in the Dark.
Jul 24, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Shaj Mathew
The Cruel Genius of Robert Plunket’s Gay Satires The Cruel Genius of Robert Plunket’s Gay Satires
His 1992 novel Love Junkie might be one of the tragicomic classics of the AIDS era.
Jul 23, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Kate Wolf
The Peculiar Legacy of E.E. Cummings The Peculiar Legacy of E.E. Cummings
Revisiting his first book, The Enormous Room, a reader can get a sense of everything appealing and appalling in his work.
Jul 22, 2024 / Books & the Arts / David B. Hobbs
Can You Put a Dollar Amount on White Privilege? Can You Put a Dollar Amount on White Privilege?
Tracie McMillan’s The White Bonus attempts to quantify the literal cost of racism in America.
Jul 18, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Kristen Martin
The World’s Problems Explained in One Issue: Electricity The World’s Problems Explained in One Issue: Electricity
Brett Christophers’s account of the market-induced failure to transition to renewables is his latest entry in a series of books demystifying a multi-pronged global crisis.
Jul 17, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Trevor Jackson