Books and Ideas

The Worlds of Noam Chomsky

The Worlds of Noam Chomsky The Worlds of Noam Chomsky

If ordinary Americans know one critic of the American Empire, it’s almost certainly Chomsky.

Jan 13, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Bessner

Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, United states President Jimmy Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Meacham Begin, celebrate after signing the Camp David Peace Accords in 1978.

Jimmy Carter’s Biographer on the Late President’s Biggest Regret Jimmy Carter’s Biographer on the Late President’s Biggest Regret

Carter summoned Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat to Camp David to make peace, not apartheid, in the Middle East. But the Israeli president broke his promise to freeze settlements.

Jan 9, 2025 / Kai Bird

Theodor Adorno giving a lecture at the Goethe-Institut in Rome, 1969.

What Adorno Can Still Teach Us What Adorno Can Still Teach Us

A conversation with Peter Gordon about the enduring influence of the Frankfurt School's leader, the future of critical theory, and his recent book, A Precarious Happiness.

Jan 9, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins

A postcard depicting Vienna in the future, 1905.

Adam Ehrlich Sachs’s Exhibitions of Absurdity Adam Ehrlich Sachs’s Exhibitions of Absurdity

In Gretel and the Great War, an antic epistolary novel set in early 20th-century Austria, the writer tries to make sense of a society gone mad.

Jan 8, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Walker Rutter-Bowman

Juan de la Corte's “The Fire of Troy,” found in the collection of the Museo del Prado, Madrid.

Why Is the Right Obsessed With Epic Poetry? Why Is the Right Obsessed With Epic Poetry?

From Elon Musk to Jordan Peterson, a certain strand of conservatism has recruited the poetry of Homer and Dante in their culture war.

Jan 6, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Orlando Reade

Barry Malzberg at ReaderCon in 2010.

Novelist on a Deadline: Barry Malzberg, 1939–2024 Novelist on a Deadline: Barry Malzberg, 1939–2024

A speed demon at the typewriter, Malzberg wrote quickly and brilliantly in a variety of genres including mystery, thrillers, and erotica, but his core work was in science fiction....

Dec 23, 2024 / Obituary / Jeet Heer

Self-help section at a bookstore.

A Close Reading of Luigi Mangione’s Self-Help Library A Close Reading of Luigi Mangione’s Self-Help Library

A look at the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter’s social media accounts points to what Americans are inclined to turn to when their government fails to give them sufficient options.

Dec 19, 2024 / Maya Vinokour

A Dance to Jules Feiffer at 95

A Dance to Jules Feiffer at 95 A Dance to Jules Feiffer at 95

Cartoonist and writer Jules Feiffer is a national treasure. To mark his 95th birthday, we had some questions for the longtime Nation contributor.

Dec 19, 2024 / Feature / Peter Kuper

Men imprisoned at the Mafanta Prison peer out at the world. In 2016, Sierra Leone’s Human Rights Commission decried the squalor and lack of rehabilitative programs as “inhumane.”

The Legacy of the British Legal System Continues to Inflict Misery in Sierra Leone The Legacy of the British Legal System Continues to Inflict Misery in Sierra Leone

Decades after independence, colonial-era laws have created a mass-incarceration crisis in Sierra Leone as poor citizens are thrown into prison for the smallest offenses.

Dec 19, 2024 / Feature / Mara Kardas-Nelson

Auctioning Off Judaism’s Past

Auctioning Off Judaism’s Past Auctioning Off Judaism’s Past

As the collections of Sir Moses Montefiore and David Solomon Sassoon go under the hammer today, what's the future for rare books and historic artifacts in the age of generative AI...

Dec 18, 2024 / David Brodsky

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