A Portrait of Leonard Cohen as a Young Artist

A posthumous collection of early fiction, A Ballet of Lepers, chronicles how, in fits and starts, the singer came to understand the art of storytelling.

Sam Sodomsky

The Puzzle of Ryan Lee Wong’s Activist Autofiction

In his debut, Which Side Are You On, he examines fractures in the Asian American community through the eyes of a recently radicalized college student.

Esther Kim

A Meditation on Trans-Species Love

The Nation spoke with Shaunak Sen, whose film All That Breathes follows a bird hospital in New Dehli and the monumental mission of saving a city’s dying black kites.

Jasmine Liu

A New Continuum of Art History at the Carnegie International

The long-running exhibition of international art offers an indispensable lesson in art outside the bounds of America’s reach and a different way to see history.

Barry Schwabsky

What’s the Matter With Contemporary Architecture?

In his new book, Reinier de Graaf attempts to work out why his profession appears to be at an impasse.

Marianela D’Aprile

The Hidden Treasures of Pirate Democracy

In his final book, David Graeber looks at an experiment in radical democracy and piratical justice in Madagascar.

Marcus Rediker

Brother Leaves Voicemails from CPEP 

Alexandra Watson

The Defiance of Cormac McCarthy’s Late Style

In Stella Maris and The Passenger, McCarthy invites us to consider hopelessness not just to give us hope but to compel us to make use of it.

Nicolás Medina Mora

Beautiful, Lonely, and Degraded: Gavin Lambert’s LA

In his 1979 novel The Goodby People, he finds a picturesque city defined by its sense of disconnection and immense sadness.

Kate Wolf

The Obscene Invention of California Capitalism

A conversation with Malcolm Harris about his new history of Silicon Valley, Palo Alto, the West Coast’s settler ideology, and recent turbulence in the world of tech.

Emma Hager