Books & the Arts

Secrets Secrets

Your coffin was so small,
Only I knew it was full of
candlewick bedspreads,
orange pekoe tea leaves
smoking chimneys over wet peat;

Nov 22, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Eavan Boland

The Collaborator The Collaborator

The Unfree French looks at the German occupation of Vichy; Bad Faith is a grim biography of a French collaborator.

Nov 22, 2006 / Books & the Arts / David A. Bell

I Can’t Get No Satisfaction I Can’t Get No Satisfaction

Laura Kipnis's The Female Thing takes women to task for perpetuating the notion that they're vulnerable.

Nov 22, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Christine Smallwood

Getting Even Getting Even

Roald Dahl's Collected Stories are best enjoyed by adult readers who take their humor black.

Nov 22, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Stephen Amidon

Not Dark Yet Not Dark Yet

Gore Vidal's Point to Point Navigation is a brave and continuous affirmation of life and an assurance that though the Republic has been betrayed, we are not to give up hope.

Nov 22, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Michael Wood

Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind

Thomas Pynchon's Against the Day is actually four stories, each replete with brilliant patter, fancy footwork, wishful thinking and a plaintive ukulele.

Nov 22, 2006 / Books & the Arts / John Leonard

The Lessons of History The Lessons of History

While there may be something great about winning a war, the United States must learn there is something much greater about using the tools of peacemaking to build a better world.

Nov 17, 2006 / Books & the Arts / John Hope Franklin

Hooray for Right-Wing Hollywood Hooray for Right-Wing Hollywood

Right-wing culture warriors gathered in LA to praise ABC for its flawed 9/11 docudrama, talk up a conservative version of The Daily Show and release a thriller fueled by a nativist...

Nov 16, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Max Blumenthal

Coming to America! Coming to America!

Reviews of films from the vulgar to the magisterial: Borat, Flags of Our Fathers, For Your Consideration, Our Daily Bread and Fur.

Nov 16, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Half a Life Half a Life

In The Lay of the Land, the final work in Richard Ford's acclaimed trilogy, Frank Bascombe picks up where he left off in Independence Day--taking road trips, describing houses and ...

Nov 16, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Benjamin Hedin

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