I’m Nobody, Who Are You? On Zadie Smith’s ‘NW’ I’m Nobody, Who Are You? On Zadie Smith’s ‘NW’
If you get to the top, only to find that the voice hounding you with charges of inauthenticity is your own, what then?
Nov 20, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Alexandra Schwartz
Republican Soul Searching Republican Soul Searching
We’re searching our souls and we’re wondering why We got beat so badly our rivals are gloating. It’s obvious now where our campaign went wrong: We should have prevented more people from voting.
Nov 14, 2012 / Column / Calvin Trillin
Oliver Stone’s ‘Untold History’ Oliver Stone’s ‘Untold History’
Missed opportunities, roads not taken—these are the central themes of Stone's new documentary.
Nov 14, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Jon Wiener
The Noble and the Base: Poland and the Holocaust The Noble and the Base: Poland and the Holocaust
Can the two central images of Poland during World War II—a country of heroes and a country of collaborators—ever be combined?
Nov 14, 2012 / Books & the Arts / John Connelly
Democracy Democracy
(A Patriotic Hymn for Republicans) Despite the fact that incidents of in-person voter fraud in the United States are exceedingly rare, the GOP has used the issue to tighten election laws around the country. —News reports American children are all taught in school That voting’s democracy’s most vital tool. But in the wrong hands all that voting can bring A little too much of a very good thing. Yes, too many voters of darker complexion Can cause the wrong person to win an election. And college kids mostly are just in a phase That makes them left wing and supportive of gays. To us, each of them is a dangerous blighter Whose voting should wait till he’s older and whiter. So we put in laws we have reason to think Will mean that the strength of these voters will shrink. We shorten the hours, and ask for a lot Of picture IDs—more than anyone’s got. Their votes aren’t the votes that the framers intended. We only regret that the poll tax has ended. The voting we need in this land of the free Is voting by people with whom we agree.
Nov 8, 2012 / Column / Calvin Trillin
Can the Federal Reserve Help Prevent a Second Recession? Can the Federal Reserve Help Prevent a Second Recession?
Chairman Ben Bernanke, who’s been sounding the alarm, is attacked constantly by the right. He and his allies need support from a mostly silent left.
Nov 8, 2012 / Books & the Arts / William Greider
A Peculiar Revolt: On Marcus Rediker’s ‘The Amistad Rebellion’ A Peculiar Revolt: On Marcus Rediker’s ‘The Amistad Rebellion’
Public sympathies and political outcomes over the Amistad Africans drifted in opposite directions.
Nov 7, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Nicholas Guyatt
Totalitarianism, Famine and Us Totalitarianism, Famine and Us
Have histories of famines caused by totalitarianism become a distraction to the new politics of hunger?
Nov 7, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Samuel Moyn
FDR and the Fight to Defend Our Freedom FDR and the Fight to Defend Our Freedom
Protecting freedom does not mean shielding a market from restrictions—it means fighting for economic justice and equality.
Nov 5, 2012 / Blog / Katrina vanden Heuvel
The Letters of Kurt Vonnegut The Letters of Kurt Vonnegut
Says editor Dan Wakefield, hIs writing “is done with such seemingly simple language and style that it sometimes seems shocking.”
Oct 31, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Kurt Vonnegut