Books and Ideas

London Underground

Jeremy Cooper’s Art of Ambiguities Jeremy Cooper’s Art of Ambiguities

His epistolary novel Bolt From the Blue is a sort of Künstlerroman about artistic inspiration, parenthood, and the frustrations of interpretation.

Jul 20, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Sophie Haigney

Beatriz Bracher’s Family Histories

Beatriz Bracher’s Family Histories Beatriz Bracher’s Family Histories

In Antonio, the novelist shows how the story of one family can help tell the larger story of inequality and violence in Brazilian life.

Jul 20, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Kyle Paoletta

Bruegel Dath

Where Do Wars Come From? Where Do Wars Come From?

Two new books, Margaret MacMillan’s War and Martin Sherwin’s Gambling with Armageddon, offer close studies of how we end up, or almost end up, marching into war.

Jul 19, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Michael T. Klare

Black Lives Matter protest in Los Angeles

Our ‘Racial Reckoning’ Is Turning Out to Be a White Lie Our ‘Racial Reckoning’ Is Turning Out to Be a White Lie

Black demands for full citizenship are being treated as entitlement and calls for racial accountability redefined as white persecution.

Jul 19, 2021 / Column / Kali Holloway

All That’s Utopian Melts Into Asphalt

All That’s Utopian Melts Into Asphalt All That’s Utopian Melts Into Asphalt

Utopia Parkway, which slices through the most diverse borough in New York, began as a dream of cooperative housing for poor Jewish immigrants.

Jul 16, 2021 / Feature / Molly Crabapple

Gattaca

Which Is the More Prescient Dystopia? ‘Gattaca’ or ‘Parable of the Sower’ Which Is the More Prescient Dystopia? ‘Gattaca’ or ‘Parable of the Sower’

Is it the 1997 film starring Ethan Hawke or is it Octavia E. Butler’s 1993 novel?

Jul 16, 2021 / The Debate / David M. Perry and Niela Orr

The Novel Solutions of Utopian Fiction

The Novel Solutions of Utopian Fiction The Novel Solutions of Utopian Fiction

Climate catastrophe has transformed a minor literary genre into an important tool of human thought.

Jul 16, 2021 / Feature / Kim Stanley Robinson

Gay Liberation Front

Can a Novel Capture the Tensions of Recent Queer History? Can a Novel Capture the Tensions of Recent Queer History?

An assimilationist and a liberationist play cat-and-mouse in Zak Salih’s debut novel Let’s Get Back to the Party.

Jul 15, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Jake Nevins

Utopia Is Possible—Yes, Even Now, Especially Now—but We Have to Demand It

Utopia Is Possible—Yes, Even Now, Especially Now—but We Have to Demand It Utopia Is Possible—Yes, Even Now, Especially Now—but We Have to Demand It

Radical faith in grand visions is supercharged by the promise that fundamental change is possible.

Jul 15, 2021 / Feature / John Nichols

In Utopia, I Never Have to Write About Immigration Again

In Utopia, I Never Have to Write About Immigration Again In Utopia, I Never Have to Write About Immigration Again

In a world without borders, migrants can be people—and migrant artists can, perhaps, be free.

Jul 15, 2021 / Feature / Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

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