Books and Ideas

Hero as Intern

Hero as Intern Hero as Intern

Congressman Matt Gaetz says he’s open to offering Kyle Rittenhouse a congressional internship.—News report Following closely an intern’s routine, Kyle arrives early, stays late at…

Nov 30, 2021 / Column / Calvin Trillin

Giving Josephine Baker a Hero’s Grave Won’t Bury the Truth…

Giving Josephine Baker a Hero’s Grave Won’t Bury the Truth… Giving Josephine Baker a Hero’s Grave Won’t Bury the Truth…

About France’s republican racism.

Nov 29, 2021 / Feature / Gary Younge

Gayl Jones’s Epic of Liberation

Gayl Jones’s Epic of Liberation Gayl Jones’s Epic of Liberation

In her new novel, Jones offers a story of slavery and freedom in the Americas.

Nov 29, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Farah Jasmine Griffin

John Rawls and Liberalism’s Selective Conscience

John Rawls and Liberalism’s Selective Conscience John Rawls and Liberalism’s Selective Conscience

With its doctrine of fairness, A Theory of Justice transformed political philosophy. But what did it leave out? 

Nov 27, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Olúfémi O. Táíwò

Oil pumpjacks

When Real Life Feels More Like Science Fiction When Real Life Feels More Like Science Fiction

As almost happened in The War of the Worlds, we could kiss this planet goodbye—and if that’s not science fiction transformed into fact of the first order, what is?

Nov 26, 2021 / Tom Engelhardt

Dennis Cooper In A Loft In Soho, New York City.

Dennis Cooper’s Love Story of a Lifetime Dennis Cooper’s Love Story of a Lifetime

His new book, I Wished, asks: What can a novel do in the service of remembering a lost love?

Nov 26, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Kate Wolf

Diane di Prima and the Dream of the East Village Avant-Garde

Diane di Prima and the Dream of the East Village Avant-Garde Diane di Prima and the Dream of the East Village Avant-Garde

The poet’s recently released memoir of the 1960s, Spring and Autumn Annals, is an essential document in the history of New York’s downtown art scene.

Nov 24, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Lynne Feeley

The Radical World of Chicago’s Black Comic Artists

The Radical World of Chicago’s Black Comic Artists The Radical World of Chicago’s Black Comic Artists

An anthology of Black comic book makers from the the postwar era offers a glimpse into a genre of art that skewered the bigotry of white liberalism.  

Nov 23, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Zito Madu

Chile Street Protest

Donald Duck Quacks Again as Chile Elects a New President Donald Duck Quacks Again as Chile Elects a New President

A half-century after it fed the Pinochet regime’s bonfire of heretical books, a celebrated “handbook of decolonization” has new relevance to a country on the brink of a momentous c...

Nov 22, 2021 / Ariel Dorfman

Nation Poetry

On the Overnight from Agadir On the Overnight from Agadir

N…

Nov 22, 2021 / Poems / Charif Shanahan

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