Beyond the Wall: On Rick Barton Beyond the Wall: On Rick Barton
An exhibition of drawings by a forgotten Bay Area artist is a feat of curating, reminding us that museums can a still shine a light on remarkable work.
Oct 12, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
The Politics of Star Wars The Politics of Star Wars
On this episode of The Time of Monsters, TV critic Sean Collins discusses an unexpectedly radical TV show.
Oct 12, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Jeet Heer
Megan Nolan’s Modern Women Megan Nolan’s Modern Women
Act of Desperation is an unsparing novel about the troubling dimensions of our sexual desire.
Oct 11, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Yen Pham
Do Sanctions Work? Do Sanctions Work?
A new history examines their use in the past and considers their effectiveness for the future.
Oct 6, 2022 / Books & the Arts / James Stafford
Hervé Guibert’s Last Laugh Hervé Guibert’s Last Laugh
His last novel, My Manservant and Me, was a bracing satire of illness, aging, and the representation of gay life in literature.
Oct 6, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Shiv Kotecha
How the Police Became an Occupying Army How the Police Became an Occupying Army
Riotsville, U.S.A. documents the origins and rise of what the activist George Jackson called the “the corporate-military-police complex.”
Oct 5, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Yasmina Price
The Mixtapes of Hua Hsu The Mixtapes of Hua Hsu
In his new memoir, Stay True, the New Yorker critic offers a coming-of-age story that doubles as a tale about friendship, music, and the politics of knowing oneself.
Oct 4, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Summer Kim Lee
I.B. Singer’s Language of Everyday Life I.B. Singer’s Language of Everyday Life
By choosing to write in Yiddish rather than Hebrew, the young Singer declared his allegiance to the here and now rather than a biblical past or a Zionist future.
Oct 4, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Adam Kirsch
Olga Tokarczuk’s Panoramic Novel of Jewish Poland Olga Tokarczuk’s Panoramic Novel of Jewish Poland
A work defined by its narrative elasticity, The Books of Jacob tells the story of a false messiah not through his eyes but through the vibrant and now lost world around him.
Oct 4, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Ilan Stavans
Pankaj Mishra’s Novel of Intellectuals and Influencers Pankaj Mishra’s Novel of Intellectuals and Influencers
Mishra’s first work of fiction in over a decade examines how ideas circulate in an age of social media and “ideas festivals.”
Oct 3, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Jennifer Wilson