The Fight for the Soul of Video Games The Fight for the Soul of Video Games
Marijam Did’s Everything to Play For makes a case for rebuilding the culture of gaming, which has become infected with rotten politics.
May 7, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Lewis Gordon
Can Spotify Be Stopped? Can Spotify Be Stopped?
The streaming service has completely changed what it means to make and listen to music. What can be done to reverse its enormous influence?
May 6, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Mitch Therieau
The Wandering Souls of Caspar David Friedrich The Wandering Souls of Caspar David Friedrich
The German artist’s landscape paintings tried to capture the sublimity of a world that has vanished.
May 5, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Quinn Moreland
Tender, Compassionate, Crushing: The Fiction of Shulamith Firestone Tender, Compassionate, Crushing: The Fiction of Shulamith Firestone
In Airless Spaces, the feminist theorist dramatizes what happens when capitalist alienation makes everybody miserable.
May 1, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Zoe Dubno
The Bloody Blues of “Sinners” The Bloody Blues of “Sinners”
Ryan Coogler’s blockbuster horror period piece sets out to reinvent the creature feature—for better and for worse.
Apr 30, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Stephen Kearse
Weike Wang’s Meticulous Satires of Identity Politics Weike Wang’s Meticulous Satires of Identity Politics
Rental House, a novel of marriage and manners, tries to make sense of how a blended family negotiates conflicts of race and class.
Apr 29, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Camille Bromley
Why the Right Fantasizes About Death and Destruction Why the Right Fantasizes About Death and Destruction
In Richard Seymour’s Disaster Nationalism, he attempts to diagnose the apocalyptic nature of conservatism around the world.
Apr 28, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Nathan Taylor Pemberton
The Poetic Life of the Online Shopper The Poetic Life of the Online Shopper
Kevin Killian’s Selected Amazon Reviews is a tender-hearted look at the art and pathos of consumerism.
Apr 23, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Lauren Stroh
Want to Understand the New Cold War? Look to Huawei. Want to Understand the New Cold War? Look to Huawei.
The tech company has come to symbolize the ongoing struggle between America and China.
Apr 22, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Brett Christophers
The Impossibly Intertwined History of the Americas The Impossibly Intertwined History of the Americas
A conversation with Greg Grandin about his groundbreaking new book America, América: A New History of the New World.
Apr 21, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins