Arts and Entertainment

Nation Poetry

I Wake in the Dark I Wake in the Dark

I wake in the dark and reach out to snug you close and your arm comes free. It falls from your body like bread. Like wet rope. And my not yet wakened mind whispers, This is what i…

May 14, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Michael Bazzett

Midge Decter speaking a lectern

Farewell to Midge Decter, the Bigot on the Beach Farewell to Midge Decter, the Bigot on the Beach

The obituaries for the founding mother of neoconservatism fail to give a sense of how vile her opinions really were.

May 13, 2022 / Jeet Heer

Florine Stettheimer, Insider Artist

Florine Stettheimer, Insider Artist Florine Stettheimer, Insider Artist

Barbara Bloemink’s biography paints a complicated picture of an artist whose work both celebrated and critiqued the upper echelons of early-20th-century cultural life.

May 12, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Max Pearl

The Whitney Biennial Isn’t As Bad as It Looks

The Whitney Biennial Isn’t As Bad as It Looks The Whitney Biennial Isn’t As Bad as It Looks

But it sure does make a poor first impression.

May 11, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky

China’s Battle for Cultural Power Begins at the Box Office

China’s Battle for Cultural Power Begins at the Box Office China’s Battle for Cultural Power Begins at the Box Office

A conversation with Erich Schwartzel about the vexed relationship between Hollywood and Beijing, how movies became a vehicle for Chinese ideology, and his new book Red Carpet.

May 10, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Han Zhang

Black Flame Hunters

Jazz Fest Is Back. Let’s Dance. (But It’s Complicated.) Jazz Fest Is Back. Let’s Dance. (But It’s Complicated.)

Beyond the confines of a beloved annual event, the future of live music in New Orleans remains unsettled.

May 6, 2022 / Larry Blumenfeld

A group of women in costume hold signs. One raises her fist.

Strippers Seize the Moment, Turning a Lockout Into a Picket Line Strippers Seize the Moment, Turning a Lockout Into a Picket Line

How many assaults, rapes, and shootings will it take for these performers to be afforded even the basic protections a union could provide?

May 5, 2022 / Antonia Crane

The Ground Beneath Us: On the Photographs of An-My Lê

The Ground Beneath Us: On the Photographs of An-My Lê The Ground Beneath Us: On the Photographs of An-My Lê

Her photos, whose subjects range from the Vietnamese countryside to the Rio Grande border, reveal hidden histories and elicit profound reconsiderations of the familiar. 

May 5, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Alex Jen 

Nijinska’s Revolutionary Vision of 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. 

May 3, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Jennifer Wilson

Nation Poetry

To a Friend Returning to Aleppo To a Friend Returning to Aleppo

We opened a bottle of wine, summoned mountains overlooking ancient cities, & cities, those pits of unease, & we left your mother’s illness alone—your mother, who insists yo…

May 3, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Zeina Hashem Beck

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