Books & the Arts
Richard Wright’s Lost Novel
In The Man Who Lived Underground, Wright offers a gothic tale of police violence and urban surrealism.
Elias RodriquesMike Gold, Avant-Garde Bard of Proletarian New York
A new biography charts Gold's many lives—as a novelist and journalist, as a working-class militant, and as a forerunner to the Beats.
J. HobermanJhumpa Lahiri’s Quietly Bracing New Novel
How writing in Italian gave Lahiri a new sense of creative freedom.
Jennifer WilsonFrom the Magazine
Joe From Scranton
Since Biden has taken office, he has signed a wide array of legislation into law. But once the more immediate emergencies have passed, will he have the will and desire to enact a set of more radical and permanent policies?
Kim Phillips-Fein
Pharoah Sanders’s Grand Return
A new collaboration with electronic producer Floating Points has led to a modern-day masterpiece for the jazz master.
Marcus J. Moore
The Entwined History of Freedom and Racism
In White Freedom, historian Tyler Stovall examines how liberty for some has always entailed a lack of liberty for many others.
Olúfémi O. TáíwòB&A Newsletter
Literary Criticism
Can the Novel Document the Present in Real Time?
Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet is an experiment in novel writing that closely tracks and analyzes the news as it happens.
Rumaan Alam
Elena Ferrante’s Class Dramas
Her latest novel, The Lying Life of Adults, mines the contradictions of class identity.
Jennifer Wilson
Kazuo Ishiguro at the End of the End of History
In his new novel Klara and the Sun, the British novelist offers us a narrative as much about our own world as about any imagined future.
Katie FitzpatrickHistory & Politics
The Future of Postcolonial Thought
A pair of books—one by Walter Mignolo and Catherine Walsh, another by Achille Mbembe—consider the unfulfilled promise of decolonization.
Arjun Appadurai
What Comes After Meritocracy?
The long-standing focus by liberals on meritocratic advancement has isolated the working class.
Elizabeth Anderson
Ami Ayalon’s Political Journey
In Friendly Fire, the former Shin Bet director offers two narratives—one of the story that Israel tells the world, the other of the story Israel tries not to tell the world.
Raja ShehadehPolitics
The Untold History of Freedom
A new book charts the tension between individual and collective notions of liberty.
Tyler StovallOne of the more contentious issues to emerge during America’s Covid-19 crisis concerns the wearing of face masks. Heralded by public health experts as a vital way to halt the spread of the disease, masks have also been attacked by conservatives as unwarranted restrictions on personal freedom. Donald Trump, who… Continue Reading >
Television and Films
Michael Apted’s Flawed but Brilliant Epic of British Social Life
The Up series was meant to investigate inequities of British class. It also ended up telling a different story as well.
Susan Pedersen
Judas and the Black Messiah’s Stark Binaries
A new biopic of Fred Hampton poses a question: Will a film ever capture the radical spirit of the Black Panthers?
Stephen Kearse
‘Minari’ Is a Landmark for Asian American Cinema
Lee Isaac Chung’s poignant immigrant drama is the kind of film that can be felt with all five senses.
Kristen Yoonsoo KimHistory
How Silicon Valley Broke the Economy
The question of how to fix the tech industry is now inseparable from the question of how to fix the system of capitalism that the late 20th century gave us.
Adrian ChenOne of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs’s most audacious marketing triumphs is rarely mentioned in the paeans to his genius that remain a staple of business content farms. In 1982, Jobs offered to donate a computer to every K–12 school in America, provided Congress pass a bill giving Apple substantial tax… Continue Reading >
Poems
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May 21, 2019
Mange Meat
Alicia Mountain -
May 21, 2019
Twenty-First Century Woman / Ankle-Length Cardigans / Looking in the Mirror
Amanda Nadelberg -
April 23, 2019
Dear Melissa—
TC Tolbert -
April 23, 2019
Love Prodigal
Traci Brimhall
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Richard Wagner’s Pandemonium
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How Theater Can Help Us Survive
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Hello, Poetry, You ‘Lamenting Pleasure’
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Mike Gold, Avant-Garde Bard of Proletarian New York
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What ‘Girlhood’ Means in 2021
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The Brutal Transcendence of Tove Ditlevsen
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The City That Embodies the United States’ Contradictions
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Richard Wagner’s Pandemonium
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Why Trump Still Insists That He Won the Election
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Undanced Dances During a Pandemic
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The Coronavirus Means Curtains for Artists
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Dismantling Transphobia at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
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The Mundane and Alienated Life of a Freelancer
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A Prophet at the Barbecue: Larry McMurtry, 1936–2021
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Helpful Men: Defending Philip Roth, Dismissing Virginia Woolf
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Red Carpet at the Picket Line
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The Caustic Grace of ‘French Exit’
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The Triumph of ‘Céline and Julie Go Boating’
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The Art of the Memoir With Japanese Breakfast
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Letter From Italy
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Philip Guston’s Peculiar History Lesson
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The UC System’s Policing Expansion Belies Its Stated Commitment to Racial Justice
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Climate Justice Is About More Than Just Fossil Fuels
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Student Debt Is Devastating American Families—Here’s How
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Hello, Poetry, You ‘Lamenting Pleasure’
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9 Months Into Touch-Free Living, What Shall We Birth?
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A Lesbian Archive Sends Its Love Letter: Find History, Find Yourself
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How Profiteers Hijacked the CDC’s Covid Response
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We’re Suing Google. Here’s Why.
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Introducing The Nation Fund for Independent Journalism
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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