Books & the Arts

Nation Poetry

Koan: What is the true word? Koan: What is the true word?

May 12, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Ye Chun

The Radical Genius of Álvaro Enrigue

The Radical Genius of Álvaro Enrigue The Radical Genius of Álvaro Enrigue

His new novel is as much a work of political philosophy as it is one of fiction.

May 12, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Nicolás Medina Mora

Capitalism’s Long Revolution

Capitalism’s Long Revolution Capitalism’s Long Revolution

What happens to our understanding of capitalism when we assume that it might not come to an end?

May 11, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Corey Robin

Hand-colored lithograph of an early baseball game seen from behind home plate, 1887.

Robert Coover at Bat Robert Coover at Bat

The postmodern writer's 1968 baseball novel is strange and poignant—a work of fiction that ultimately argues for the vitality of fiction itself.

May 7, 2026 / Books & the Arts / John Semley

A Louisiana Private School’s All-American Grift

A Louisiana Private School’s All-American Grift A Louisiana Private School’s All-American Grift

In Miracle Children: Race, Education, and a True Story of False Promises, two reporters uncovered a high school scandal that puts into relief the unfinished work of integration.

May 6, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Kristen Martin

Orange clouds over the west hills of Portland as the light from the sunset and smoke from historic Oregon wildfires mix over Mt. Calvary Cemetery, 2020.

A Climate Change Novel That Questions Everything A Climate Change Novel That Questions Everything

In God and Sex, Jon Raymond has recontextualized timeless novelistic questions—on faith and love—in an era of environmental collapse.

Apr 30, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Jessica Swoboda

Are Magazines Failing to Cover the New World Order?

Are Magazines Failing to Cover the New World Order? Are Magazines Failing to Cover the New World Order?

A conversation with Gavin Jacobson, one of the founding editors of Equator, a new publication that is trying to make sense of the world after the West.

Apr 29, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins

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

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