Has the Pandemic Pushed Universities to the Brink? Has the Pandemic Pushed Universities to the Brink?
Covid has turned the gap between universities and colleges serving mainly privileged students and those serving needy ones into a chasm and it is unclear if the latter will be able...
Feb 7, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Andrew Delbanco
In Search of Self-Destruction on an Oil Rig In Search of Self-Destruction on an Oil Rig
Tabitha Lasley’s Sea State is an intimate and blistering memoir of a writer’s life amidst the UK’s offshore natural gas industry.
Feb 3, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Jess Bergman
Norman Mailer Wasn’t Canceled Norman Mailer Wasn’t Canceled
What’s most striking about the Mailer contretemps is how it embodies so many aspects of the current discourse around cancel culture and free speech.
Feb 2, 2022 / Books & the Arts / David Klion
The Limits of Understanding the Pandemic Philosophically The Limits of Understanding the Pandemic Philosophically
Byung-Chul Han’s The Palliative Society tries to contextualize the emotional and cultural ramifications of Covid-19 without ever addressing its material consequences.
Feb 1, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Clinton Williamson
Theater Kids and the End Times in “Station Eleven” Theater Kids and the End Times in “Station Eleven”
The HBO adaptation of Emily St. Mandel’s postapocalyptic pandemic novel examines, with mixed results, the endurance of art after society collapses.
Jan 31, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Vikram Murthi
The Sublime Ironies of John Ashbery The Sublime Ironies of John Ashbery
Does his first posthumous collection, Parallel Movement of the Hands, help answer the riddle of his poetic project?
Jan 27, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Ryan Ruby
The Story of Capitalism in One Family The Story of Capitalism in One Family
The Lehman Trilogy proposes that the downfall of a financial dynasty is enough to tell the economic and political history of America
Jan 26, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Alisa Solomon
The Surprising History of the Comic Book The Surprising History of the Comic Book
Since their initial popularity during World War II, comic books have always been a medium for American counterculture and for nativism and empire.
Jan 25, 2022 / Books & the Arts / J. Hoberman
The Past and Future of Native California The Past and Future of Native California
A new book retells California’s history through the experience of its Native peoples.
Jan 24, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Julian Brave NoiseCat
Terry Teachout and the Last of the Conservative Critics Terry Teachout and the Last of the Conservative Critics
He was a generation younger than Joan Didion and her cohort of critics who got their start at National Review. With his death, their strain of criticism seems not only rare but per...
Jan 20, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Jeet Heer