Books & the Arts
The Gilded Age’s Democratic Contradictions
A new history examines how the late 19th century’s raucous party system gave way to a more sedate and exclusionary political culture that erected more and more barriers to participation.
Eric FonerTelling the Story of Undocumented America
Using both journalism and visionary vignettes, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio examines undocumented life in contemporary United States.
Gaiutra BahadurThe Story of Sun Ra’s Egyptian Adventure
How a 1971 trip changed the course of the free jazz icon’s career.
Marcus J. MooreFrom the Magazine
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. Táíwò
Was Marx Also a Social Democrat?
In a new book, Shlomo Avineri explores the social democratic impulses and Jewish origins of Karl Marx.
Bruce Robbins
Why Do We Eat Bad Food?
Mark Bittman’s new history looks at the economy and politics of junk food.
Bill McKibbenB&A Newsletter
Literary Criticism
Yi Sang’s Global Poetry
Through his synthetic and surrealist style, the Korean poet helped chart an alternate path of internationalism in an age of empire.
E. Tammy Kim
Richard Wright’s Lost Novel
In The Man Who Lived Underground, Wright offers a gothic tale of police violence and urban surrealism.
Elias Rodriques
Jhumpa Lahiri’s Quietly Bracing New Novel
How writing in Italian gave Lahiri a new sense of creative freedom.
Jennifer WilsonHistory & 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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DISCOURSE ON WHY INMATES EXIT PRISON WORSE THAN WHEN THEY WENT IN
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Raoul Peck’s World
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The Unwritten History of Black Performance
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Joan Didion’s Long View
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The Misplaced Hope of Understanding Police From the Inside
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Did ‘Cancel Culture’ Drive Richard Wright Underground?
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Un-Critical Race Theory
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The Promise and Hubris of Silicon Valley’s Vision of How We Eat
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The United States' First Civil Rights Movement
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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 Epic Misery of Thomas Bernhard
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The History of Publishing Is a History of Racial Inequality
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Did ‘Cancel Culture’ Drive Richard Wright Underground?
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Raoul Peck’s World
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Rough Trade, Big City: The Legacy of ‘Midnight Cowboy’
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Red Carpet at the Picket Line
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Behind the Hedonist Persona of Francis Bacon
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A Year Lived Inside With Instagram and a Dutch Master
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Is It Time to Abolish Museums?
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Computer Screens and Pieces of Paper
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‘Critical Race Theory’ at a Big Sports School
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The Miseducation of White Children
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Did ‘Cancel Culture’ Drive Richard Wright Underground?
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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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The Promise and Hubris of Silicon Valley’s Vision of How We Eat
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Loss Runs Like a River Through My Life
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Kamloops Indian School
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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