Books and Ideas

The pure products of America: Roy Cohn and Donald Trump at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington, DC, on March 20, 1983.

Donald Trump Is the Authentic American Berserk Donald Trump Is the Authentic American Berserk

Far from being an alien interloper, the incoming president draws from homegrown authoritarianism.

Dec 13, 2024 / Jeet Heer

US congressman, writer, and scientist Ignatius Loyola Donnelly (1831–1901), circa 1863. He was the member of the US House of Representatives from Minnesota’s Second Congressional District. An engraving by G.E. Perine.

The Peculiar Case of Ignatius Donnelly The Peculiar Case of Ignatius Donnelly

The Minnesota politician presents a riddle for historians. He was a beloved populist but also a crackpot conspiracist. Were his politics tainted by his strange beliefs?

Dec 12, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Andrew Katzenstein

Aaron Rodgers of the New York Jets reacts after a play during the second half of an NFL game against the Buffalo Bills at MetLife Stadium, 2024.

The Agony of Aaron Rodgers The Agony of Aaron Rodgers

Is he the world’s most interesting athlete or is he just a washed-up crackpot?

Dec 11, 2024 / Books & the Arts / John Semley

A bunch of flowers marks the spot where 40 infants who died in the Bethany mother-and-baby home were buried in unmarked graves at Mount Jerome graveyard in Dublin.

Can You Understand Ireland Through One Family’s Terrible Secret? Can You Understand Ireland Through One Family’s Terrible Secret?

In Missing Persons, Clair Wills's intimate story of institutionalized Irish women and children, shows how a family's history and a nation’s history run in parallel.

Dec 10, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Emily McBride

Peter Schjeldahl’s Pleasure Principle

Peter Schjeldahl’s Pleasure Principle Peter Schjeldahl’s Pleasure Principle

His art criticism fixated on the narcissism of the entire enterprise. But over six decades, his work proved that a critic could be an artist too.

Dec 9, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Zachary Fine

How the Western Literary Canon Made the World Worse

How the Western Literary Canon Made the World Worse How the Western Literary Canon Made the World Worse

A talk with Dionne Brand about her recent book, Salvage, which looks at how the classic texts of Anglo-American fiction helped abet the crimes of capitalism, colonialism, and more...

Dec 5, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Elias Rodriques

Along the Roads That Built Modern Brazil

Along the Roads That Built Modern Brazil Along the Roads That Built Modern Brazil

José Henrique Bortoluci's What Is Mine tells the story of his country’s laborers, like his father, who built its infrastructure, and in turn its fractious politics.

Dec 4, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Jimin Kang

Takes one to know one: Sammy “the Bull” Gravano, former underboss of the Gambino crime family, who confessed to 19 murders when he testified against his boss, John Gotti, is a fan of President-elect Trump.

Donald Trump’s Government of Gangsters Donald Trump’s Government of Gangsters

Who is being naïve now?

Dec 2, 2024 / Jeet Heer

Benin Bronzes at the British Museum.

The Long History of the "Elsewhere Museum" The Long History of the "Elsewhere Museum"

Can the ethnographic museum be reinvented?

Dec 2, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Farah Abdessamad

The poet Ghayath Almadhoun reads from “N-O-T M-Y P-O-E-M-S” at the DAAD Gallery on February 19, 2020, in Berlin, Germany.

The Exiled Palestinian Poet Fighting Censorship in Democracies The Exiled Palestinian Poet Fighting Censorship in Democracies

Ghayath Almadhoun had a poetry event in Berlin canceled simply because he’s Palestinian. At least 200 more artists have been silenced over Palestine in Germany since.

Nov 29, 2024 / Ghayath Almadhoun

x