Marx for Our Times Marx for Our Times
A new book explores the social democratic impulses and Jewish origins of Karl Marx.
Apr 19, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Bruce Robbins
The Rigorous Satire of Search Party The Rigorous Satire of "Search Party"
In its fourth season, the HBO show cements its status as cutting, if imperfect, send-up of millennial self-actualization.
Apr 15, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Vikram Murthi
B. Traven: Fiction’s Forgotten Radical B. Traven: Fiction’s Forgotten Radical
The enigmatic author’s anarcho-communist politics seep into his novels about wage labor, class consciousness, and the violence of capital.
Apr 14, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Clinton Williamson
How ‘Things’ In Fiction Shape the Way We Read How ‘Things’ In Fiction Shape the Way We Read
Sarah Wasserman’s recent book looks at how the objects we take for granted in stories can reveal even deeper meaning.
Apr 13, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Sophie Haigney
Philip Guston’s Peculiar History Lesson Philip Guston’s Peculiar History Lesson
On the painter’s politics of self-questioning.
Apr 12, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
Why Do We Believe in Photographs? Why Do We Believe in Photographs?
David Levi Strauss’s new book looks at the ancient roots of photography to understand how the medium became so distorted in the present.
Apr 9, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Will Fenstermaker
The Triumph of ‘Céline and Julie Go Boating’ The Triumph of ‘Céline and Julie Go Boating’
Why Jacques Rivette’s 1974 film of female friendship and surrealism remains a masterpiece.
Apr 7, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Kristen Yoonsoo Kim
Songs of Hope and Isolation Songs of Hope and Isolation
Arlo Parks’s consoling pop music is tailor-made for our fraught and lonely moment.
Apr 7, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Julyssa Lopez
Are We Living in an Age of Strongmen? Are We Living in an Age of Strongmen?
A new book by Ruth Ben-Ghiat discusses the past and present challenges posed by authoritarianism, but misses the social and economic conditions in which it arises.
Apr 6, 2021 / Books & the Arts / David A. Bell
Gogol’s Bullshit Jobs Gogol’s Bullshit Jobs
His biting satires of Russian bureaucracy examined the random cruelty and arbitrary hierarchy of an empire in crisis.
Apr 5, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Jennifer Wilson