Books & the Arts

Vladimir Sorokin’s Anti-Realism

Vladimir Sorokin’s Anti-Realism

For the Russian novelist, the end of Soviet literary and political culture marked the loss of a powerful foil.

Gregory Afinogenov

What Happened to Newspaper Book Reviewing?

As a mode of recommendation, the newspaper fiction review has less to recommend it than ever before.

Frank Guan

Where Should the Climate Movement Go Next?

Andreas Malm thinks climate politics needs to reject pacifism for sabotage.

Thea Riofrancos

From the Magazine

The Gilded Age of Magazines

The Gilded Age of Magazines

The decline and fall of the glossy.

Kevin Lozano
The Democrats at a Crossroads

The Democrats at a Crossroads

Michael Kazin’s new book examines the contradictory past and uncertain future of the Democratic Party.

Nicholas Lemann
Tove Ditlevsen’s Unsentimental Education

Tove Ditlevsen’s Unsentimental Education

The Danish novelist and poet was a rare writer—one who shunned sentiment but not empathy in her stories.

Lily Meyer

Literary Criticism

John Keene’s Poetry of Others

John Keene’s Poetry of Others

In Punks, the self is never static and cannot exist outside its relationships to others.

Ken Chen
Me Too and the Not Me Novel

Me Too and the Not Me Novel

Julia May Jonas’s new novel is a study of a campus scandal and a woman caught in the middle of it.

Laura Marsh
Fernanda Melchor’s Dark Morality Plays

Fernanda Melchor’s Dark Morality Plays

In her third novel, Melchor turns her allegorical powers in an even more explicitly political direction.

Nicolás Medina Mora

B&A Newsletter

Best of Books & the Arts

Mondays. A bi-weekly collection of the best of The Nation’s Books & the Arts section.


By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You may unsubscribe or adjust your preferences at any time. You can read our Privacy Policy here.

History & Politics

The Many American Revolutions

The Many American Revolutions

Woody Holton’s Liberty is Sweet charts not only the contest with Great Britain over “home rule” but also the internal struggle over who should rule at home. 

Eric Foner
Cedric Robinson’s Radical Democracy

Cedric Robinson’s Radical Democracy

Rejecting the resignation of the 1970s and ’80s, Robinson found hope and resistance in the ruins of the American city.

Jared Loggins
What Is Left of History?

What Is Left of History?

Joan Scott’s On the Judgment of History asks us to imagine the past without the idea of progress. But what gets left out in the process?

David A. Bell

Higher Education

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 to survive.
Andrew Delbanco

In January 2020, just days before the first case of Covid-19 was identified in the United States, Bryan Alexander, a scholar at Georgetown University known as a “futurist,” published a new book, Academia Next: The Futures of Higher Education. Alexander made no claim to clairvoyance, only to “trend analysis and… Continue Reading >

Television and Films

Does “Severance”’s Workplace Satire Work?

Does “Severance”’s Workplace Satire Work?

On the ups and downs of the year's most talked-about office drama.

Vikram Murthi
The Brutal Verisimilitude of “The Northman”

The Brutal Verisimilitude of “The Northman”

Robert Eggers’s latest work, a Viking epic, pushes his obsessive and detail-oriented filmmaking to its limit. 

Erin Schwartz
Nadav Lapid’s Cinema of Shame

Nadav Lapid’s Cinema of Shame

His new film Ahed’s Knee is a shallow cri de coeur against the Israeli state. 

Kaleem Hawa

Dance

Nijinska’s Revolutionary Vision of Dance

Nijinska’s Revolutionary Vision of Dance

Lynn Garafola’s biography of the dancer and choreographer charts her globetrotting life and radical art. 
Jennifer Wilson

In 1905, the dancers of the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg went on strike. Their demands: higher wages, a five-day workweek, training in how to apply theatrical makeup, the right to wear their own pointe shoes. They elected a small delegation, which included star pupils Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky,… Continue Reading >

Poems

Editor's Picks

The Rise of Adjunct Lit

The Rise of Adjunct Lit

Maggie Doherty
Graham Greene’s God

Graham Greene’s God

John Banville

More in Culture