Books & the Arts
The Hidden Treasures of Pirate Democracy
In his final book, David Graeber looks at an experiment in radical democracy and piratical justice in Madagascar.
Marcus RedikerThe Defiance of Cormac McCarthy’s Late Style
In Stella Maris and The Passenger, McCarthy invites us to consider hopelessness not just to give us hope but to compel us to make use of it.
Nicolás Medina MoraWhat’s the Matter With Contemporary Architecture?
In his new book, Reinier de Graaf attempts to work out why his profession appears to be at an impasse.
Marianela D’AprileFrom the Magazine

The Costs and Contradictions of Ballet
Alice Robb’s Don’t Think, Dear and Ellen O’Connell Whittet’s What You Become in Flight explore both the liberating sense of art and the domineering logic of ballet.
Glory Liu
The Cult of J. Edgar Hoover
A zealot through and through, he ran the FBI like a religious sect.
Adam Hochschild
Nan Goldin’s Life Between Art and Activism
The impact of her pioneering photography and her advocacy on behalf of those harmed by Purdue Pharma is chronicled in Laura Poitras’s All the Beauty and the Bloodshed.
Barry SchwabskyLiterary Criticism

Janet Malcolm, Reluctant Memoirist
Why was one of the most gifted nonfiction writers of her generation so uncomfortable writing about herself?
Vivian Gornick
Is This the End of Literary Studies?
John Guillory’s Professing Criticism offers a sobering look at the uncertain future of criticism inside and outside the academy.
Nicholas Dames
The Radicalization of Édouard Louis
Two new books by the French novelist mark a political turn in his writing.
Tara K. MenonB&A Newsletter
History & Politics

The Crusade Against Civil Liberties During World War I
Adam Hochschild’s latest book, American Midnight, examines a dark era in US history in which Woodrow Wilson and his administration went to war at home as well as abroad.
Eric Foner
Why the United States Needs a New Reconstruction
In The Third Reconstruction, historian Peniel Joseph examines how how the broken promises of racial equality in the past might be fulfilled in the future.
Robert Greene II
The Past and Future of Mexican Chicago
From the machine politicians in La Villita to the radicals in Pilsen, Mexican Chicagoans have played a central role in defining their city.
Juan Ignacio MoraLiterature

The Fragile and Complex Worlds of George Saunders
In his short fiction, Saunders reminds us that when it comes to ethical dilemmas there are often no clean ways out.
Erin SomersEarly on in “Sea Oak,” a short story from Pastoralia, the second of five collections by George Saunders, the characters watch a TV show called How My Child Died Violently. The show is hosted by “a six-foot-five blond,” Saunders writes, “who’s always giving the parents shoulder rubs and telling them… Continue Reading >
Television and Films

The Many Labyrinths of Alejandro Iñarritu’s Oscar-Nominated “Bardo”
Disjointed, unnerving, and divisive, Bardo challenges its viewers to make sense of it.
Ilan Stavans
The Strange Thrills of “The Crown”
While the infighting and personal lives of the British royals is boring, their desperate struggle to protect the monarchy makes for fine television.
Gary Younge
The Honesty of “Atlanta”
After four seasons, Donald Glover’s television show leaves behind a fascinating and complicated legacy.
Vikram MurthiPoetry

Will Alexander’s Epics of the Surreal
As one critic put it, his poetry conjured up a world built by “an ecstatic surrealist on imaginal hyperdrive.”
Aditya BahlThe embers of the Los Angeles uprising were still burning, in 1992, when Will Alexander published his short essay “Los Angeles: The Explosive Cimmerian Fish” in the pages of Sulfur. Run by the poet Clayton Eshleman, the small magazine had acquired a considerable reputation for upending the country’s “official verse… Continue Reading >
Poems
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February 23, 2023
The Possible Murder of Pablo Neruda
Questions have surrounded the legendary Chilean poet’s death for years, and a new inquiry suggests that he might have been poisoned.
Peter Kornbluh -
February 15, 2023
The Forgotten Poets of the Attica Uprising
When the Smoke Clears documents poetry workshops held in the aftermath of the prison's occupation. The work produced by the inmates was visceral and heartrending.
J. Howard Rosier -
January 19, 2023
A.E. Stallings and the Afterlives of Antiquity
In a career spanning collection This Afterlife, the poet opens up a dialogue about the history of form and the rich possibilities of the practice's oldest modes of expression.
Ryan Ruby -
January 5, 2023
Will Alexander’s Epics of the Surreal
As one critic put it, his poetry conjured up a world built by “an ecstatic surrealist on imaginal hyperdrive.”
Aditya Bahl
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A Meditation on Trans-Species Love
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A New Continuum of Art History at the Carnegie International
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What’s the Matter With Contemporary Architecture?
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What’s the Matter With Contemporary Architecture?
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We Cannot Countenance Windowless Bedrooms
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No, AI Is Not “Disrupting” Architecture
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Reagan, Trump, and the Price of Presidential Impunity
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Ron DeSantis Is Destroying Florida’s New College Just Because He Can
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Ron DeSantis Says, “The Left Made Me Do It”; Plus Our Oscar Preview With John Powers
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You Can’t Even Tell Who’s Rich Anymore
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The Hidden Treasures of Pirate Democracy
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The Creative, Collective, Queer Project of Raving
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The Mythology of George Balanchine
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Wealth of Destruction
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The Puzzle of Ryan Lee Wong’s Activist Autofiction
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The Defiance of Cormac McCarthy’s Late Style
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Beautiful, Lonely, and Degraded: Gavin Lambert’s LA
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A Meditation on Trans-Species Love
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Rock Steady: How the Former Oscars Host Spent a Year Plotting His Slap Back
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A New Continuum of Art History at the Carnegie International
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Victor Navasky Recognized the Power of Cartooning
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Beyond Zombie Figuration
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No, Bill Maher, Student Debt Cancellation Is Not a “Giveaway”
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Wellesley College Isn’t an All-Women School
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Do University Farms Truly Teach Sustainability?
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Just Because ChatBots Can’t Think Doesn’t Mean They Can’t Lie
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Victor Navasky: An Avatar of the American Left, 1932–2023
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The Tragedy of Ukraine
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Pious Pence and Sanctimonious Ron Take a Pounding
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Women Are Waiting to Cheer the Misogynist’s Indictment
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A Lawsuit Puts the Workplace Culture of Fox News on Trial
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Will the Public Internet Survive?
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Máirtín Ó Cadhain: Found in Translation
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Tony Tulathimutte’s Worst-Case Scenarios