Books and Ideas

Nation Poetry

from ‘The Angelgreen Sacrament’ from ‘The Angelgreen Sacrament’

You are afraid don’t be afraid be afraid don’t be afraid no one births you only my longing my angellonging and what I see is green arms and hands in your abandoned eye which is giv…

May 20, 2021 / Poems / Eva Kristina Olsson & translated by Johannes Göransson

Why Critics Need to Let Their Guard Down

Why Critics Need to Let Their Guard Down Why Critics Need to Let Their Guard Down

A conversation with Larissa Pham about desire, the politics of vulnerability, and practicing a more generous form of criticism.

May 19, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Chalay Chalermkraivuth

Tom Tomorrow cartoon

Cancel Culture, Case Closed Cancel Culture, Case Closed

The world’s greatest internet detective faces his hardest puzzle yet.

May 18, 2021 / Tom Tomorrow

Trump CPAC

Why Trump Still Insists That He Won the Election Why Trump Still Insists That He Won the Election

He calls people losers so he can’t be one. The thought of that label just makes him undone. But history’s verdict won’t be any finer: He’s not just a loser but also a whiner.

May 18, 2021 / Column / Calvin Trillin

Richard Wagner.

Richard Wagner’s Pandemonium Richard Wagner’s Pandemonium

The contested life and afterlife of the composer.

May 18, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Mina Tavakoli

Jordan Peterson

Jordan Peterson’s New Rules Are Old News Jordan Peterson’s New Rules Are Old News

The Canadian contrarian is back with another book. It isn’t any better than the last one.

May 18, 2021 / Column / Katha Pollitt

Why Do We Eat Bad Food?

Why Do We Eat Bad Food? Why Do We Eat Bad Food?

Mark Bittman’s new history looks at the economy and politics of junk food.

May 18, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Bill McKibben

St. Louis

The City That Embodies the United States’ Contradictions The City That Embodies the United States’ Contradictions

In the history of St. Louis, we find both a radical and reactionary past—and a more hopeful future too.

May 17, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Robert Greene II

Service Center by Mark McMahon

The Mundane and Alienated Life of a Freelancer The Mundane and Alienated Life of a Freelancer

Kavita Bedford’s novel Friends and Dark Shapes explores the false promises and precarity of writing in the age of the gig economy.

May 13, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Lily Meyer

Mike Gold, Avant-Garde Bard of Proletarian New York

Mike Gold, Avant-Garde Bard of Proletarian New York Mike Gold, Avant-Garde Bard of Proletarian New York

A new biography charts Gold's many lives—as a novelist and journalist, as a working-class militant, and as a forerunner to the Beats.

May 12, 2021 / Books & the Arts / J. Hoberman

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