Clipping the Yankee Clipper Clipping the Yankee Clipper
The twentieth century produced few American heroes like Joe DiMaggio. He was arguably the best all-around ballplayer who'd ever taken the field, a unique combination of power, sp...
Nov 27, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Peter Schrag
What Is What Was? What Is What Was?
In the Acknowledgments section of his biography of Saul Bellow, James Atlas quotes a somewhat greater biographer, Samuel Johnson: "We know how few can portray a living acquaintan...
Nov 27, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Richard Stern
Another ‘October Surprise’ Another ‘October Surprise’
Poor Anthony Summers--he writes a 600-page book on Nixon based on massive and exhaustive research, including interviews with a thousand people and 120 pages of documentation--and...
Oct 19, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Jon Wiener
The Devil and Mr. Hearst The Devil and Mr. Hearst
William Randolph Hearst is one of those people we all know was very, very famous but are never quite sure why, or what we are to think of him.
Jun 22, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Dana Frank
The Devil in Mr. Marx The Devil in Mr. Marx
At a quarter to 3 in the afternoon on March 14, 1883, one of the world's brainiest men, Karl Marx, ceased to think. He passed away peacefully in his favorite armchair.
Jun 22, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Andy Merrifield
Prince Albert in a Can Prince Albert in a Can
What's the meaning of Al Gore? Or George Bush?
Jun 8, 2000 / Books & the Arts / David Corn
McCullers: Canon Fodder? McCullers: Canon Fodder?
What makes an American writer? In today's narrow, backlashed literary market the chain of command is quite clear. The "greats" are Updike, Pynchon, Mailer, Bellow and Roth.
Jun 8, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Sarah Schulman
Harrington’s Dilemma Harrington’s Dilemma
Maurice Isserman's The Other American: The Life of Michael Harrington evokes and will enrich the legacy of the last great American socialist in the tradition of Eugene Debs and N...
May 25, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Tom Hayden
The Compleat Walker The Compleat Walker
Shortly before he died, Bruce Chatwin found God. This was on top of Mount Athos, after which he left for Katmandu. Looking down from the bees and grapes, he had seen an iron cros...
Apr 13, 2000 / Books & the Arts / John Leonard
Reparting the Waters Reparting the Waters
It is delightfully ironic that a site has been approved for the construction of a monument in Martin Luther King Jr.'s name on the Washington Mall, given that in the last months ...
Apr 13, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Jason Sokol