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

Alisa Solomon

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. 

J. Hoberman

When Sidney Poitier Picked Up the Gun

Notes on a couple of native sons.

Gene Seymour

The Black Arts Movement’s Revolution in the South

A new book offers a sweeping history of the radical art and institutions created in the South by the Black Arts Movement.

Elias Rodriques

No Other Way to Live: Why Ai Weiwei Left China

Xi Jinping’s tenure has been marked by harsh crackdowns on human rights activism.

Yaqiu Wang

The Ardor of “Licorice Pizza”

Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film is his most personal work yet.

Vikram Murthi

Maggie Nelson and the Evolving Politics of Liberation

In her new book, Nelson examines the politics of freedom on the left and the right.

Jennifer Wilson

Another Name for America Is Time

Ama Codjoe

Forever Homeless

Mosab Abu Toha

That Time the FBI Scrutinized “It’s a Wonderful Life” for Communist Messaging

The film “deliberately maligned the upper class,” according to a report that didn’t like the portrayal of Mr. Potter as a bad guy.

John Nichols