Books & the Arts

How Did Education in the United States Become So Unequal?

How Did Education in the United States Become So Unequal? How Did Education in the United States Become So Unequal?

A new history of Boston’s schools reminds us how the brittle vision of whom and what education serves has long been defined by managers and employers instead of the educators who d...

Jun 29, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Megan Erickson

Annette Gordon-Reed’s Personal History of Juneteenth

Annette Gordon-Reed’s Personal History of Juneteenth Annette Gordon-Reed’s Personal History of Juneteenth

In her new book, Gordon-Reed reminds us that besides offering us origin stories the past can also provides us with a way to think about the present and future.

Jun 28, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Robert Greene II

Diane Johnson’s Homecoming

Diane Johnson’s Homecoming Diane Johnson’s Homecoming

In her new novel, the novelist returns to the United States to offer a self-conscious story of American fragmentation.

Jun 28, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Becca Rothfeld

COUCH IN PARLOR

Analysis Interminable: On Janet Malcolm Analysis Interminable: On Janet Malcolm

The insight and rigor of her writing changed the way we understood the work of psychoanalysis.

Jun 25, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Hannah Gold

The World-Historic Melodies of Nathaniel Mackey

The World-Historic Melodies of Nathaniel Mackey The World-Historic Melodies of Nathaniel Mackey

His largest collection yet, Double Trio, is an epic feat of poetry: one that moves from the cradles of civilization to the Middle Passage to the gyre of the present day.

Jun 24, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Stephen Piccarella

Aziz Ansari

The Unfinished Evolution of Aziz Ansari The Unfinished Evolution of Aziz Ansari

With the latest season of Master of None, the comedian and director’s attempt at a reboot of his creative approach reveals the limits of his perspective.

Jun 23, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Vikram Murthi

Janet Malcolm.

Janet Malcolm’s Provocations Janet Malcolm’s Provocations

Her writing cut through propriety and pretentiousness and revealed us for who we are: desiring creatures, complicated and simple at once.

Jun 22, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Maggie Doherty

The United States’ First Civil Rights Movement

The United States’ First Civil Rights Movement The United States’ First Civil Rights Movement

A new history charts the radical agitation around Black rights and freedom back to the early nineteenth century. 

Jun 16, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Kellie Carter Jackson

Joan Didion’s Long View

Joan Didion’s Long View Joan Didion’s Long View

Her new essay collection, Let Me Tell You What I Mean, captures what about her writing feels at once seductive and illusory.

Jun 15, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Haley Mlotek

Nation Poetry

Saying I Am a Survivor in Another Language Saying I Am a Survivor in Another Language

We are in the moment before we decide, for the first time, to have sex. We fill our mouths with salami and wine. I am careful, peeling wax paper off glazed sponge cake baked by nun…

Jun 15, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Taneum Bambrick

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