Not Even Bing’s: On Louis Armstrong Not Even Bing’s: On Louis Armstrong
Terry Teachout's new biography of Louis Armstrong is stuck in the discophile groove.
Feb 11, 2010 / Books & the Arts / David Schiff
The Renunciation Artist: On Leo Tolstoy The Renunciation Artist: On Leo Tolstoy
The axis of moral struggle, a stroke of salvation--these are the spiritual dimensions of Tolstoy's late fiction.
Feb 11, 2010 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz
Scalia v. The World: On Antonin Scalia Scalia v. The World: On Antonin Scalia
Who is the purest archetype of the conservative legal movement, Antonin Scalia or John Roberts?
Feb 4, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Michael O’Donnell
Ghostly Demarcations: On Ramon Fernandez Ghostly Demarcations: On Ramon Fernandez
The novelist Dominique Fernandez struggles to understand his father's years as a Nazi collaborator.
Jan 28, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Alice Kaplan
Misterioso Misterioso
Thelonious Monk was a more nuanced figure than the flimsy characterization of a way-out jazz cat could ever convey.
Dec 23, 2009 / Books & the Arts / David Yaffe
The Misunderstood Robber Baron: On Cornelius Vanderbilt The Misunderstood Robber Baron: On Cornelius Vanderbilt
T.J. Stiles's The First Tycoon is a gilded portrait of the robber baron Cornelius Vanderbilt.
Nov 11, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Steve Fraser
Mahler’s Body Mahler’s Body
Gustav Mahler's embrace of Germanness and battles with anti-Semitism.
Jun 24, 2009 / Books & the Arts / David Schiff
Not Easy Being Greene: Graham Greene’s Letters Not Easy Being Greene: Graham Greene’s Letters
A Life in Letters as chronicled by the determinedly elusive Graham Greene.
Apr 15, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Michelle Orange
This Small Extravagance: The Life of Shakespeare’s Mind This Small Extravagance: The Life of Shakespeare’s Mind
Writing a biography of the mind of Shakespeare is a challenge that requires the ingenuity of an artist.
Apr 15, 2009 / Books & the Arts / James Longenbach
An Alienation Artist: Kafka and His Critics An Alienation Artist: Kafka and His Critics
Unraveling the Kafkaesque mystique of Franz Kafka.
Feb 11, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Alexander Provan