Robert Coover at Bat Robert Coover at Bat
The postmodern writer's 1968 baseball novel is strange and poignant—a work of fiction that ultimately argues for the vitality of fiction itself.
May 7, 2026 / Books & the Arts / John Semley
A Louisiana Private School’s All-American Grift A Louisiana Private School’s All-American Grift
In Miracle Children: Race, Education, and a True Story of False Promises, two reporters uncovered a high school scandal that puts into relief the unfinished work of integration.
May 6, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Kristen Martin
A Climate Change Novel That Questions Everything A Climate Change Novel That Questions Everything
In God and Sex, Jon Raymond has recontextualized timeless novelistic questions—on faith and love—in an era of environmental collapse.
Apr 30, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Jessica Swoboda
Are Magazines Failing to Cover the New World Order? Are Magazines Failing to Cover the New World Order?
A conversation with Gavin Jacobson, one of the founding editors of Equator, a new publication that is trying to make sense of the world after the West.
Apr 29, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins
Esther Kinsky’s Celluloid Dreams Esther Kinsky’s Celluloid Dreams
In Seeing Further, a novel obsessed with the tactile feeling of arthouse cinema, the sad state of our moviegoing comes into focus.
Apr 28, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Walker Rutter-Bowman
Revisiting the Advent of the Abstract Revisiting the Advent of the Abstract
A recent gallery exhibition on abstract art and self-taught artists proposes a new story for the rise of abstraction.
Apr 23, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
Wolfgang Koeppen—“Poet of Failure” Wolfgang Koeppen—“Poet of Failure”
The German writer’s postwar works were ruthless in their condemnation of a country that, in its inability to reckon with historical atrocity, was beyond reform.
Apr 22, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Pankaj Mishra
The Conflicted Origins of Sociology The Conflicted Origins of Sociology
Kwame Appiah Anthony’s Captive Gods examines how the founders of the discipline responded to a widespread decline in Christianity in the late 19th century.
Apr 20, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Alec Gewirtz
Larry McMurtry’s Tall Tales Larry McMurtry’s Tall Tales
By questioning the myth of the cowboy, he offered a different kind of legend, one more suited to this country and its contradictions.
Apr 16, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Gus O’Connor
The Strange Afterlife of Confederate Monuments The Strange Afterlife of Confederate Monuments
“Monuments” an exhibition in Los Angeles, interrogates the changing meanings of Civil War-era statues and their ability to shape historical narrative.
Apr 15, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Pujan Karambeigi