Memories of the Mao Era Memories of the Mao Era
Ji Xianlin’s memoir is the most widely read account of the Cultural Revolution in China. Has it changed the country’s amnesia about its bloody past?
Feb 10, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Chenxin Jiang
The Trials of Aaron Swartz The Trials of Aaron Swartz
A collection of Swartz’s writings is a record of a mind thinking, beautifully, against itself.
Feb 3, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Ava Kofman
Werner Herzog’s Maniacal Quests Werner Herzog’s Maniacal Quests
A newly published travel journal shows how walking, like filmmaking, brings us to the naked core of existence.
Jan 7, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Noah Isenberg
Conductor of the Anonymous Conductor of the Anonymous
In her oral histories, Svetlana Alexievich orchestrates the voices of Russians trying to reconcile the irreconciliable.
Nov 25, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Sophie Benech
Real, Realist, Realistic, and False Real, Realist, Realistic, and False
Linda Rosenkrantz’s 1968 quasi-novel Talk reminds us that wry self-awareness and anxious fragility are hardly millennial inventions.
Nov 25, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Becca Rothfeld
Why Does Ta-Nehisi Coates Say Less Than He Knows? Why Does Ta-Nehisi Coates Say Less Than He Knows?
The journalist’s best-selling memoir offers eloquent testimony to the vulnerability of black life, but it surrenders too much to despair.
Nov 15, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Jesse McCarthy
Politics, Principle, and Risk Politics, Principle, and Risk
For political theorist Philip Green, taking sides has always meant taking action.
Nov 5, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Sara Rathod
LIVE: Between the Lines With Ta-Nehisi Coates LIVE: Between the Lines With Ta-Nehisi Coates
An intimate public conversation with the author of Between the World and Me, streaming today at 6:30 pm, est.
Oct 22, 2015 / The Nation
10 Questions for Margo Jefferson 10 Questions for Margo Jefferson
The author of Negroland explains her long journey from cheerleader to literary critic.
Oct 22, 2015 / Jon Wiener
How Patti Smith, Punk Chanteuse, Became the Irresistible Siren of Middle Age How Patti Smith, Punk Chanteuse, Became the Irresistible Siren of Middle Age
Her latest memoir, M Train, feels guided simultaneously by determination and serendipity.
Oct 8, 2015 / Books & the Arts / James Longenbach