Books and Ideas

The Real Reason Herschel Walker’s Abortion Scandal Hurts the GOP The Real Reason Herschel Walker’s Abortion Scandal Hurts the GOP

The issue isn’t his character. It’s Walker’s policy that’s the problem.

Oct 7, 2022 / Jeet Heer

Studs Terkel

The Decline of Progressive Publishing Houses Is a Loss for Everyone The Decline of Progressive Publishing Houses Is a Loss for Everyone

The end of Pantheon and Metropolitan augers a strange and unchallenging world of ideas.

Oct 7, 2022 / Tom Engelhardt

Jessa Crispin Speaks From the Heartland

Jessa Crispin Speaks From the Heartland Jessa Crispin Speaks From the Heartland

The author's latest book, My Three Dads, blends personal memory with American history, offering incisive cultural criticism that turns to small-town values to understand American i...

Oct 7, 2022 / Q&A / Brianna Di Monda

Do Sanctions Work?

Do Sanctions Work? Do Sanctions Work?

A new history examines their use in the past and considers their effectiveness for the future.

Oct 6, 2022 / Books & the Arts / James Stafford

Hervé Guibert’s Last Laugh

Hervé Guibert’s Last Laugh Hervé Guibert’s Last Laugh

His last novel, My Manservant and Me, was a bracing satire of illness, aging, and the representation of gay life in literature.

Oct 6, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Shiv Kotecha

Maggie Haberman’s Trump Biography Buys Into the Myth

Maggie Haberman’s Trump Biography Buys Into the Myth Maggie Haberman’s Trump Biography Buys Into the Myth

The book's focus on an individualized rise to power lets the American media, political system, and cult of entrepreneurship off the hook.

Oct 5, 2022 / Chris Lehmann

I.B. Singer’s Language of Everyday Life

I.B. Singer’s Language of Everyday Life I.B. Singer’s Language of Everyday Life

By choosing to write in Yiddish rather than Hebrew, the young Singer declared his allegiance to the here and now rather than a biblical past or a Zionist future.

Oct 4, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Adam Kirsch

Movie poster with the word Metropolis is red letters

The Political Lessons of Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” The Political Lessons of Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis”

The 1927 film raises the question, “Who will mediate between our head and our hands?”

Oct 4, 2022 / Column / David Bromwich

A Ukrainian soldier in the Kupiansk, a recaptured frontline city in the Kharkiv region.

A Farewell to Arms A Farewell to Arms

(Draft-age Russian male version)

Oct 4, 2022 / Column / Calvin Trillin

The Mixtapes of Hua Hsu

The Mixtapes of Hua Hsu The Mixtapes of Hua Hsu

In his new memoir, Stay True, the New Yorker critic offers a coming-of-age story that doubles as a tale about friendship, music, and the politics of knowing oneself.

Oct 4, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Summer Kim Lee

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