Books and Ideas

Breakfast Table With Jewish Newsletters

Breakfast Table With Jewish Newsletters Breakfast Table With Jewish Newsletters

An argument with myself.

Jan 1, 2021 / Wallace Shawn

What Can We Learn From the 1918 Pandemic?

What Can We Learn From the 1918 Pandemic? What Can We Learn From the 1918 Pandemic?

A recent history of the pandemic illuminates not just parallels with our moment but how a public health crisis can become a political one as well. 

Dec 29, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Richard J. Evans

sign reads

2020 2020

We’ve had a year, you must admit, Whose misery would just not quit. At last, we offer this obit: We’re glad to see the back of it.

Dec 29, 2020 / Column / Calvin Trillin

military leaders in the Spanish Civil War

How the Fight Over Spain’s Anti-Fascist Legacy Involves a Former ‘Nation’ Editor How the Fight Over Spain’s Anti-Fascist Legacy Involves a Former ‘Nation’ Editor

Spain’s progressive government is protecting the tomb of Julio Álvarez del Vayo, foreign minister for the Republic during the Civil War and later a Nation editor. Spain’s right win...

Dec 28, 2020 / Sebastiaan Faber and Bécquer Seguín

Somewhere Real

Somewhere Real Somewhere Real

Get in, George Eliot. I packed PB&Js. I’m bringing that rainbow parachute we held hands under as eight year olds. Get in, right beside Autumn, beside every manic pixie dream gi…

Dec 28, 2020 / Poems / Shira Erlichman

The Groundbreaking Honesty of Joe Sacco’s Comics Journalism

The Groundbreaking Honesty of Joe Sacco’s Comics Journalism The Groundbreaking Honesty of Joe Sacco’s Comics Journalism

His decades-long project of reportage in graphic form works like oral history—bearing witness to the historical traumas of his subjects.

Dec 28, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Jillian Steinhauer

Good Riddance to Robert E. Lee

Good Riddance to Robert E. Lee Good Riddance to Robert E. Lee

…and to “very fine people on both sides” apologias for Confederate infamy.

Dec 22, 2020 / John Nichols

How Should We Remember Ellis Island?

How Should We Remember Ellis Island? How Should We Remember Ellis Island?

Ellis Island: A People’s History looks at the everyday injustices that have haunted the country’s stance on immigration for centuries.

Dec 22, 2020 / Books & the Arts / J. Howard Rosier

The Frenzied Paris of Virginie Despentes

The Frenzied Paris of Virginie Despentes The Frenzied Paris of Virginie Despentes

Her trilogy of novels, Vernon Subutex, tell the story of a city and its inhabitants’ capacity for radical change.

Dec 21, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Jacqueline Feldman

Climate Change

Climate Change Climate Change

Public Art, Yerbabuena Cultural Center, San Francisco, Calif. Photo by Alessandra Mondolfi.

Dec 18, 2020 / OppArt / Alessandra Mondolfi

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