When Soldiers Shoot a War When Soldiers Shoot a War
The War Tapes, a documentary shot by US soldiers and sanctioned by the military, may turn out to be the most powerful statement against the war to date.
Jun 14, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Kevin McCarthy
News of a Kidnapping News of a Kidnapping
Reviews of The Road to Guantanamo and Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul.
Jun 14, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Frank Church’s Quixotic Vision Frank Church’s Quixotic Vision
A Father's Day remembrance of a courageous politician who, in an earlier era, challenged America to resist the apostles of fear who would barter liberty for false security.
Jun 13, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Forrest Church
Heat Wave Heat Wave
As the planet warms and global catastrophe beckons, what changes are we willing to make to adjust to a brave new world? Tim Flannery and Elizabeth Kolbert seek answers in two provo...
Jun 13, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Peter Canby
Boxed In Boxed In
In his new short story collection In Persuasion Nation, absurdist extraordinaire George Saunders offers a surreal depiction of the destruction of individuality through consumer meg...
Jun 8, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Vince Passaro
The Zionist Imagination The Zionist Imagination
As the founding father of the Zionist right, Vladimir Jabotinsky rejected Diaspora existence. Yet in his 1935 novel The Five he tenderly evoked it, offering a glimpse of something ...
Jun 8, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Jacqueline Rose
P-Funk Politics P-Funk Politics
As hurricane season began in earnest, Ray Nagin, who famously declared New Orleans a "chocolate city," began his second term as mayor. What better time to appreciate the way Georg...
Jun 5, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Ned Sublette
Local Hero Local Hero
Reviews of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, A Prairie Home Companion and The Da Vinci Code.
Jun 1, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Reasonable Cause Reasonable Cause
Imagine cities you've Inhabited, streets Paved in lava stone. You never intended to pray In the temples, had Nothing to sell. Now imagine yourself Returning to those same cities. The river flows, the summit Emerges each morning from the haze. Hunt for people you knew, Knock on their doors. Ask yourself Where are the vases, animals Etched in gold? Where are the wines From distant places, Banquets ferreted From the bowels of the earth? While you were missing Other people wore Your garments, Slept in your bed. How frightening The man who said In his affliction Wood has hope. Cut down It will flourish. If the root grows old And the trunk withers In dust, at the scent of water It will germinate.
Jun 1, 2006 / Books & the Arts / James Longenbach
The Missionary Position The Missionary Position
Like radical Islamists and American interventionists, Ayaan Hirsi Ali's The Caged Virgin and Irshad Manji's The Trouble With Islam Today express great concern for Muslim women. But...
Jun 1, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Laila Lalami