Elizabeth Hardwick’s Life of the Mind Elizabeth Hardwick’s Life of the Mind
The first biography of the critic and novelist examines the personal costs of devoting oneself to intellectual pursuit.
Dec 8, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Sarah Wang
The Question Dave Hickey Dared to Ask The Question Dave Hickey Dared to Ask
His work and life were committed to the trickiest of queries: Why do people despise critics?
Dec 6, 2021 / Books & the Arts / David Schurman Wallace
Letters From the November 29/December 6, 2021, Issue Letters From the November 29/December 6, 2021, Issue
Get Carter… A stream called Drowning Creek…
Nov 16, 2021 / Kai Bird and Our Readers
Kurt Vonnegut’s Prescient Insight Into Veterans’ Trauma Kurt Vonnegut’s Prescient Insight Into Veterans’ Trauma
Well before PTSD became an official diagnosis, his classic novel Slaughterhouse-Five described the psychic wounds of war.
Nov 11, 2021 / Tom Roston
Why Mike Nichols Was the Egalitarian Auteur Why Mike Nichols Was the Egalitarian Auteur
Mark Harris’s biography of the filmmaker shows that one cannot be an auteur without some help.
Nov 3, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Lindsay Zoladz
The Moral and Magical Political Fictions of Carolina de Robertis The Moral and Magical Political Fictions of Carolina de Robertis
The Uruguayan American novelist’s The President and the Frog asks us to consider: What does it mean to be a good political actor?
Oct 29, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Lily Meyer
Was Jimmy Carter an Outlier? Was Jimmy Carter an Outlier?
Politicians say things to get elected and then, once in office, do otherwise; that’s politics. But Carter demanded that we grade him on a curve.
Oct 4, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Rick Perlstein
What Happened to Andrew Cuomo? What Happened to Andrew Cuomo?
Ross Barkan’s The Prince tracks how the son of a progressive New York governor transformed into one focused on one thing above all else: power.
Jul 28, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Raina Lipsitz
Behind the Hedonist Persona of Francis Bacon Behind the Hedonist Persona of Francis Bacon
Annalyn Swan and Mark Stevens’s comprehensive study of the British artist is a sensitive investigation into his artistic identity.
Jun 9, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Tausif Noor
The Anti-Nostalgia of Walker Evans The Anti-Nostalgia of Walker Evans
A recent biography reveals the many contradictions of the photographer who fastidiously documented postwar American life.
Jun 8, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Rahel Aima