Books and Ideas

A Jazz Singer

A Jazz Singer A Jazz Singer

Legendary vocalist Mark Murphy exemplified the jazz values of improvisation, swing, and in-the-moment spontaneity.

Oct 30, 2015 / David Hajdu

Her Writing Knows Things About Us That Most of Us Will Never Imagine

Her Writing Knows Things About Us That Most of Us Will Never Imagine Her Writing Knows Things About Us That Most of Us Will Never Imagine

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the publication of Jessica Hagedorn’s groundbreaking novel Dogeaters.

Oct 30, 2015 / Walter Mosley

October 30, 1885: Ezra Pound Is Born

October 30, 1885: Ezra Pound Is Born October 30, 1885: Ezra Pound Is Born

“There is no reason why poetry should not be so perplexingly simple as Mr. Pound’s, and be about nothing at all.”

Oct 30, 2015 / Richard Kreitner

Jorie Graham. By Marina Cook

Modernist Poetry in a Crowdsourcing Age Modernist Poetry in a Crowdsourcing Age

Jorie Graham resists classic pleasures like closure, a concept anathema to the poet and her country.

Oct 29, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko

Ester Dean (left) and B.o.B. perform at CinemaCon, March 27, 2014.

It’s an Old Trope, but How Well Does the Factory Model Explain Pop Music? It’s an Old Trope, but How Well Does the Factory Model Explain Pop Music?

A new book about the music industry misses the fact that we’ve already entered the post-industrial age.

Oct 29, 2015 / Books & the Arts / David Hajdu

Mandate boundary lines in the Pacific islands, 1921.

Imperialism With an Internationalist Face Imperialism With an Internationalist Face

In her masterful new study of the League of Nations, Susan Pedersen shows how the organization helped prolong the era of colonialism.

Oct 29, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Martti Koskenniemi

Abandoned newspaper vending machines, Covina, California, 2011.

Is Complicity Now the Entry Fee for Critique? Is Complicity Now the Entry Fee for Critique?

A new app brings clarity to an old situation: the collaboration between journalism and capitalism.

Oct 29, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Joshua Clover

William LeBeau, 86, right, sits in his golf cart in The Villages.

What’s It Like Growing Old in the New Economy? What’s It Like Growing Old in the New Economy?

Danish architect Deane Simpson explores this vexing question in his book Young-Old: Urban Utopias of an Aging Society.

Oct 27, 2015 / Matthew Shen Goodman

What Will It Take To Force a Real Conversation About Climate Change?

What Will It Take To Force a Real Conversation About Climate Change? What Will It Take To Force a Real Conversation About Climate Change?

Naomi Klein, Avi Lewis, and Wen Stephenson discuss the truly transformative change that our climate crisis requires.

Oct 26, 2015 / Wen Stephenson, Naomi Klein, and Avi Lewis

October 24, 1923: Denise Levertov Is Born

October 24, 1923: Denise Levertov Is Born October 24, 1923: Denise Levertov Is Born

Denise Levertov, born on this day in 1923, was The Nation’s poetry editor in the 1960s. Her first poem in our pages was “The Sage,” published in the issue of November 1, 1958. The…

Oct 24, 2015 / Richard Kreitner

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