Books and Ideas

Percival Everett’s Abstract Art

Percival Everett’s Abstract Art Percival Everett’s Abstract Art

His new novel, So Much Blue, is a meditation on seeing and abstraction, and it might be key for recognizing a new form of literary social critique.

Jun 26, 2017 / Paul Devlin

The Republic of Rogue Island

The Republic of Rogue Island The Republic of Rogue Island

Here's what one state's radical experiment after the American Revolution can tell us about democracy today.

Jun 23, 2017 / Tom Cutterham

Jay Leno

On Writers, the Media, and the Corruptions of Power On Writers, the Media, and the Corruptions of Power

Joel Whitney, whose book Finks is about the CIA’s subversion of US culture, talks about the scars left by the Cold War.

Jun 22, 2017 / Patrick Lawrence

Bill O'Reilly

Bill O’Reilly Is America’s Best-Selling Historian Bill O’Reilly Is America’s Best-Selling Historian

And other problems we need to solve before we can get out of this mess.

Jun 22, 2017 / Andrew J. Bacevich

Tom Tomorrow cartoon

Trump’s Very Honest Cabinet Meeting Trump’s Very Honest Cabinet Meeting

“A genuinely historic percentage of the population finds you utterly repellant, Mr. President.”

Jun 20, 2017 / Tom Tomorrow

Rancher

How to Protect the Environment Where It’s Worked by Human Hands How to Protect the Environment Where It’s Worked by Human Hands

In Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman, Miriam Horn reminds us what Middle America looks like as a place, not an ideology.

Jun 19, 2017 / Madeline Ostrander

Mary Gaitskill Remains Open to Opposition

Mary Gaitskill Remains Open to Opposition Mary Gaitskill Remains Open to Opposition

The closest thing we get to a precept in Somebody with a Little Hammer is that we should all try to learn to think for ourselves—and, even then, things can go wrong.

Jun 19, 2017 / Larissa Pham

Republican Legislators Want You to Think Confederate Monuments Aren’t Political

Republican Legislators Want You to Think Confederate Monuments Aren’t Political Republican Legislators Want You to Think Confederate Monuments Aren’t Political

Under the guise of historical preservation, Southern states have passed laws preventing the removal of Confederate symbols.

Jun 15, 2017 / Jonathan S. Blake

E.P. Thompson’s Search for a New Popular Front

E.P. Thompson’s Search for a New Popular Front E.P. Thompson’s Search for a New Popular Front

Despite a lifetime of political disappointments, the historian never gave up on the prospects of a broad left-wing social movement.

Jun 14, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Stefan Collini

Removing the Confederate Monuments In New Orleans Was Only a First Step Toward Righting the Wrongs of History

Removing the Confederate Monuments In New Orleans Was Only a First Step Toward Righting the Wrongs of History Removing the Confederate Monuments In New Orleans Was Only a First Step Toward Righting the Wrongs of History

The real sanitization of the past happened when the statues were put up. To correct the record, a museum of Reconstruction should take their place.

Jun 14, 2017 / StudentNation / Scott P. Marler

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