Books and Ideas

Stephen Crane’s Lifetime of Mystery

Stephen Crane’s Lifetime of Mystery Stephen Crane’s Lifetime of Mystery

His visceral fiction and journalism might be best understood as a literature of pure immediacy.

Mar 1, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Paul Franz

The Book Arsenal: A Dispatch From the Cultural Front in Kyiv

The Book Arsenal: A Dispatch From the Cultural Front in Kyiv The Book Arsenal: A Dispatch From the Cultural Front in Kyiv

Ukrainian publisher Anetta Antonenko has her books, her cats, her language—and her gun.

Feb 28, 2022 / Benjamin Moser

What Is Fueling Our Century’s Global “Disorder”?

What Is Fueling Our Century’s Global “Disorder”? What Is Fueling Our Century’s Global “Disorder”?

A conversation with historian Helen Thompson about the changes in energy consumption and monetary policy that set the table for today’s geopolitical instability.

Feb 28, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins

Let’s Talk About the Taking of Black Land

Let’s Talk About the Taking of Black Land Let’s Talk About the Taking of Black Land

From Seneca Village to “urban renewal,” the government has claimed Black property—rarely with the “just compensation” promised by the Fifth Amendment.

Feb 28, 2022 / Feature / Elie Mystal

The Enigma of Roberto Bolaño

The Enigma of Roberto Bolaño The Enigma of Roberto Bolaño

David Kurnick’s new book reappraises the Chilean writer, clarifying the preconceptions and myths that haunted his earliest work.

Feb 24, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Lily Meyer

The American Right’s Cult of Victor Orbán

The American Right’s Cult of Victor Orbán The American Right’s Cult of Victor Orbán

The Hungarian autocrat is proving worryingly influential.

Feb 23, 2022 / Column / Jeet Heer

Claudio Lomnitz and the Vertigo of Translation

Claudio Lomnitz and the Vertigo of Translation Claudio Lomnitz and the Vertigo of Translation

In his generations-spanning new book, the anthropologist tracks the story of Jewish life in Latin America through the travails of one family. 

Feb 23, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Ilan Stavans

A “Simultaneously Hidden and Deliciously Obvious” History of Levantine Cuisine

A “Simultaneously Hidden and Deliciously Obvious” History of Levantine Cuisine A “Simultaneously Hidden and Deliciously Obvious” History of Levantine Cuisine

Writer Antonio Tahhan and Anny Gaul, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, discuss a new collection of essays on the region’s food.

Feb 22, 2022 / Q&A / Alexia Underwood

Trump Took 15 Boxes of Official Documents When He Left Office

Trump Took 15 Boxes of Official Documents When He Left Office Trump Took 15 Boxes of Official Documents When He Left Office

So why’d he take those boxes home? Well, here’s a strong suspicion: He meant to put stuff on display And charge a steep admission.

Feb 22, 2022 / Column / Calvin Trillin

I Helped Publish “Maus.” Never Once Have I Regretted It.

I Helped Publish “Maus.” Never Once Have I Regretted It. I Helped Publish “Maus.” Never Once Have I Regretted It.

If you truly want a teenager to read any book with gusto, the first thing you need to do is, of course, ban it.

Feb 21, 2022 / Tom Engelhardt

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