Enter Rick Perry Enter Rick Perry
With even more impressive hair than Kerry, At last into the race arrives Rick Perry. Though Perry’s blessed, no doubt, with splendid hair, he Believes some things that strike some folks as scary. Observers down in Texas still are wary. The space between his ears, they say, is airy. But for the pros who count which states he’d carry, What’s there beneath the hair is ancillary.
Aug 24, 2011 / Column / Calvin Trillin
Discandied: On Women and Elegy Discandied: On Women and Elegy
Learning to mourn with Susan Howe, Gertrude Schnackenberg, Anne Carson and C.D. Wright.
Aug 24, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Susan Stewart
This Is a Recording: On Alan Lomax This Is a Recording: On Alan Lomax
How Alan Lomax became the most significant Baedeker of America’s folkways.
Aug 24, 2011 / Books & the Arts / David Yaffe
A ‘Troublemaker’ Looks Back on an Era of Hope and Upheaval A ‘Troublemaker’ Looks Back on an Era of Hope and Upheaval
For half a century, Bill Zimmerman has labored for progressive causes as an organizer and political consultant. In a new memoir, he looks back on his career with an unwavering comm...
Aug 15, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Danny Goldberg
Cut, Cap and Balance Cut, Cap and Balance
(A Republican version of “Brush Up Your Shakespeare,” from Kiss Me, Kate) Cut, cap and balance. Just turn off the tap. Cut, cap and balance. Shut that purse up with a snap. Let’s cut wasteful programs in bunches— Like research and poor kids’ school lunches. All life is not really a fed affair, So let’s take a scalpel to Medicare. ’Cause if rich people pay less in taxes We’ll still whip that Evil old Axis. All citizens will be in clover If we just heed the teaching of Grover. Cut, cap and balance. Balance, cut and cap.
Aug 10, 2011 / Column / Calvin Trillin
Inhuman Bondage: On Slavery, Emancipation and Human Rights Inhuman Bondage: On Slavery, Emancipation and Human Rights
Robin Blackburn's The American Crucible treats modern slavery as an international institution with national histories.
Aug 10, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Eric Foner
Sentimentality or Honesty? On Charles Taylor Sentimentality or Honesty? On Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor is a sadly endangered type: the philosopher-statesman.
Aug 10, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Mark Oppenheimer
Hard Against Time: On Roy Fisher Hard Against Time: On Roy Fisher
The Midlands poet Roy Fisher has never aspired to a readership. All the more reason to welcome his Selected Poems.
Jul 27, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko
Let Us Dispute: On Isaac Casaubon Let Us Dispute: On Isaac Casaubon
Isaac Casaubon was a model citizen of the republic of letters—a community more durable than any church and broader than academia.
Jul 27, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Sam Stark
Michele: A Serenade by Iowa Social Conservatives* Michele: A Serenade by Iowa Social Conservatives*
(With apologies to the Beatles) Michele, our belle, Thinks that gays will all be sent to hell. That’s Michele. Michele, our belle, Thinks they’re sick but could be made all well. Yes, Michele. She just needs to turn them toward Jesus. They’re going through a phase That leads to filthy ways. But with her hubby’s help these guys could All be John Wayne. Michele, our belle, Views you have are suiting us just swell. Our Michele. * Yiddish version (sung with schutzpah) titled “We Kvell, Michele.”
Jul 27, 2011 / Column / Calvin Trillin