Books & the Arts

Katie Kitamura’s Divided Selves Katie Kitamura’s Divided Selves

Her fiction are studies of fragmentation and ambivalence.

Books & the Arts / Lovia Gyarkye

The Retro Pop of Lady Gaga and Baths The Retro Pop of Lady Gaga and Baths

In their new albums, the musicians look backward as much as forward.

Books & the Arts / Bijan Stephen

How Should Los Angeles Rebuild After the Fires? How Should Los Angeles Rebuild After the Fires?

In the aftermath of this year’s catastrophic fires, architects and urban planners begin to consider how to rebuild.

Books & the Arts / Karrie Jacobs

From the Magazine

The Making and Remaking of Karl Marx’s  “Capital”

The Making and Remaking of Karl Marx’s “Capital” The Making and Remaking of Karl Marx’s “Capital”

In the first English translation in half a century, Paul Reitter and Paul North distill the essence of the Marxist masterpiece by going back to basics.

Books & the Arts / Alyssa Battistoni

Kara Walker, “Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine),” 2024 © Kara Walker.

The Art and Automatons of Kara Walker The Art and Automatons of Kara Walker

Walker’s new installation at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art offers us visions from both the past and future.

Books & the Arts / Rachel Hunter Himes

The Cruel World According to Stephen Miller

The Cruel World According to Stephen Miller The Cruel World According to Stephen Miller

How did he become the Trump era’s architect of hate? 

Books & the Arts / David Klion

Literary Criticism

Fady Joudah’s Poetry of Dislocation

Fady Joudah’s Poetry of Dislocation Fady Joudah’s Poetry of Dislocation

In his new book of poetry, […], the poet, translator, and ER doctor explores Palestinians’ experiences of exile and displacement—and the difficulty of healing amid the ongoing Nak…

Books & the Arts / Hussein Omar

The Rebellions of Murray Kempton

The Rebellions of Murray Kempton The Rebellions of Murray Kempton

One of his generation’s most prolific journalists, Kempton never turned a blind eye to the inequalities all around him.

Books & the Arts / Vivian Gornick

Sigrid Nunez On and Off the Big Screen

Sigrid Nunez On and Off the Big Screen Sigrid Nunez On and Off the Big Screen

Two new films—Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door and Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s The Friend—attempt to adapt her work. Do they succeed?

Books & the Arts / Sarah Chihaya

History & Politics

Then–US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifying before the Senate Budget Committee in 2009.

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…

Books & the Arts / Benjamin Kunkel

A crowd outside Minneapolis’s Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank during an economic crisis in May 1893.

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.

Books & the Arts / Astra Taylor

Kamala Harris at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

What Happened to the Democratic Party? What Happened to the Democratic Party?

The squalid state of our present political institutions points to a failure of not just individuals but the system as a whole.

Books & the Arts / Chris Lehmann

Art & Architecture

From “Aspects of Negro Life: From Slavery to Reconstruction,” Aaron Douglas (1934).

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.

Books & the Arts / Rachel Hunter Himes

Rain and Mountains

Rain and Mountains Rain and Mountains

Pages from a novelist’s notebook.

Books & the Arts / Orhan Pamuk

Central Park Tower, One57, and 111 West 57th Street, 2022.

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.

Books & the Arts / Karrie Jacobs

Film & Television

Adam Driver as Cesar Catilina and Laurence Fishburne as Fundi Romaine in “Megalopolis”.

The Empty Promise of “Megalopolis” The Empty Promise of “Megalopolis”

Francis Ford Coppola’s long-awaited magnum opus is a flop.

Books & the Arts / Stephen Kearse

“Anora,” an American Fantasia

“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.

Books & the Arts / Beatrice Loayza

A scene from “The Apprentice.”

The Apprenticeship of Donald Trump The Apprenticeship of Donald Trump

A new film examines Trump’s formative years under the tutelage of Roy Cohn.

Books & the Arts / David Klion

Latest in Books & the Arts

James Schuyler in New York City, 1988.

The Miracles of James Schuyler The Miracles of James Schuyler

Nathan Kernan’s biography of the New York School poet tracks the development of his serene and joyful work alongside the chaos of his life.

Jul 7, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Evan Kindley

Jürgen Habermas in Berlin, Germany, 2018.

Jürgen Habermas Still Believes in Modernity Jürgen Habermas Still Believes in Modernity

A conversation with the German theorist about the history of Western philosophy and more.

Jul 7, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins

Michael Stewart’s Death Still Haunts New York

Michael Stewart’s Death Still Haunts New York Michael Stewart’s Death Still Haunts New York

In 1985, police were acquitted in the killing of a graffiti artist and painter, a grisly act that galvanized the city’s art underground. Why has he been forgotten?

Jul 3, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Michael Shorris

Joan Didion, 2007.

Joan Didion Undone Joan Didion Undone

Notes to John, posthumously published journal entries chronicling Didion’s therapy sessions, is a peek into the myths and fears that animated her writing life.

Jul 2, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Emma Hager

Seth Rogen’s Toothless Hollywood Satire

Seth Rogen’s Toothless Hollywood Satire Seth Rogen’s Toothless Hollywood Satire

The Studio is pitched as a send-up of the idiocy of the entertainment industry, but its potshots are harmless, even friendly.

Jun 25, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Vikram Murthi

Exterior of The Bitter End coffee house, a venue specializing in live acoustic folk music, Greenwich Village, New York City, 1960s.

J. Hoberman’s Lost New York J. Hoberman’s Lost New York

In Everything Is Now, the veteran film critic looks back at the downtown art scene of the 1960s.

Jun 24, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Andrew Marzoni

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