Books and Ideas

Nation Poetry

Dialogues (Against God) Dialogues (Against God)

Apr 18, 2025 / Poems / Jennifer Chang

Translating the Attack on DEI

Translating the Attack on DEI Translating the Attack on DEI

Trump administration rolls back civil rights.

Apr 15, 2025 / OppArt / Ruben Bolling

Robert Redford in “The Great Gatsby” (1974).

Will There Ever Be Another “Great Gatsby”? Will There Ever Be Another “Great Gatsby”?

A century on, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s great Jazz Age novel still speaks to what ails America.

Apr 15, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Mark Chiusano

Jaime Cook, principal of Sackets Harbor Central School.

The People Are Resisting While the Elites Are Surrendering The People Are Resisting While the Elites Are Surrendering

The Ivy League is silently complicit in Trump’s war on international students.

Apr 14, 2025 / Jeet Heer

“Blues People” and Black Life: A Conversation With Imani Perry

“Blues People” and Black Life: A Conversation With Imani Perry “Blues People” and Black Life: A Conversation With Imani Perry

We spoke with the scholar about Black in Blues, a poetic exploration of the relationship between the color blue and Black people.

Apr 14, 2025 / Q&A / Elias Rodriques

9 Ways You Can Save the Internet Right Now

9 Ways You Can Save the Internet Right Now 9 Ways You Can Save the Internet Right Now

Because the danger to cultural preservation has never been greater.

Apr 11, 2025 / Maria Bustillos

Sigrid Nunez On and Off the Big Screen

Sigrid Nunez On and Off the Big Screen Sigrid Nunez On and Off the Big Screen

Two new films—Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door and Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s The Friend—attempt to adapt her work. Do they succeed?

Apr 9, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Sarah Chihaya

A depiction of Herod the Great.

Zora Neale Hurston’s Lost Roman Epic Zora Neale Hurston’s Lost Roman Epic

In The Life of Herod the Great, we get a novel full of intrigue, betrayal, and revolution.

Apr 9, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Edna Bonhomme

Agnes Callard and the Examined Life

Agnes Callard and the Examined Life Agnes Callard and the Examined Life

In her new book, Callard makes the case that we should all live more philosophically but where does politics fit in?

Apr 8, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Olúfémi O. Táíwò

Old Chapel Lane, Skibbereen, County Cork in 1846.

What Caused the Irish Famine? What Caused the Irish Famine?

A new book offers a comprehensive and heartbreaking account of the most terrible catastrophe to befall Ireland in the modern era.

Apr 8, 2025 / Books & the Arts / John Banville

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