Books and Ideas

Donald Trump.

Give Trump This: The 14th Amendment Has Been Working Overtime Give Trump This: The 14th Amendment Has Been Working Overtime

How healthy is it to found a democracy on this one slender reed?

Aug 26, 2015 / Richard Kreitner

Samuel R. Delany

Samuel R. Delany Speaks Samuel R. Delany Speaks

The award-winning novelist discusses the intersection of race, sexual identity, and science fiction.

Aug 24, 2015 / Cecilia D’Anastasio

Shirin Batshon

The War on Women in Israel The War on Women in Israel

Sexist laws and institutions threaten all women in Israel, but Arab women are beset from all sides.

Aug 19, 2015 / Samuel Thrope

How a Harper Lee Novel Unfit to Print Was Turned Into Found Money

How a Harper Lee Novel Unfit to Print Was Turned Into Found Money How a Harper Lee Novel Unfit to Print Was Turned Into Found Money

The decision to publish was purely a marketing decision. It turned out to be a shrewd one.

Aug 18, 2015 / Richard Lingeman

August 18, 1958: Vladimir Nabokov’s ‘Lolita’ Is Published in the US

August 18, 1958: Vladimir Nabokov’s ‘Lolita’ Is Published in the US August 18, 1958: Vladimir Nabokov’s ‘Lolita’ Is Published in the US

“Lolita by high art transmutes persons, motives and actions which in ordinary life are considered indecent, into objects of delight, compassion and contemplation.”

Aug 18, 2015 / Richard Kreitner

Anthony Kennedy

The Dread of Loneliness The Dread of Loneliness

Self-definition and equality in Obergefell v. Hodges.

Aug 17, 2015 / Vivian Gornick

Julian Bond

Julian Bond Built Coalitions, Practiced Solidarity, and Showed Us the Future Julian Bond Built Coalitions, Practiced Solidarity, and Showed Us the Future

When the civil-rights leader was nominated for vice president in 1968, we got a glimpse of the new politics.

Aug 17, 2015 / John Nichols

August 16, 1977: Elvis Presley Dies

August 16, 1977: Elvis Presley Dies August 16, 1977: Elvis Presley Dies

The myth of the King “allows us to cling to the notion that art is pure and society is corrupt and corrupting.”

Aug 16, 2015 / Richard Kreitner

August 14, 1935: President Franklin Roosevelt Signs the Social Security Act

August 14, 1935: President Franklin Roosevelt Signs the Social Security Act August 14, 1935: President Franklin Roosevelt Signs the Social Security Act

“Unfortunately the present law seems doomed from the start by its complex, slovenly, and mangled character.”

Aug 14, 2015 / Richard Kreitner

Alfred Jarry’s Fun Home

Alfred Jarry’s Fun Home Alfred Jarry’s Fun Home

Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi gets reimagined as the murderous fantasy of an angsty teenage boy.

Aug 13, 2015 / Alisa Solomon

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