Books and Ideas

A Week in the White House A Week in the White House

Benghazi and the IRS Already had the White House vexed. Plus Justice snooped on AP’s phones. A plague of locusts may be next.

May 15, 2013 / Column / Calvin Trillin

In Our Orbit

In Our Orbit In Our Orbit

Victor Navasky’s The Art of Controversy: Political Cartoons and their Enduring Power

May 15, 2013 / Books & the Arts / John Palattella

A Question A Question

For years we’ve been willing to conquer a place That’s nurtured, abetted or aided The radical terrorist threatening us. Should Cambridge, then, now be invaded?

May 8, 2013 / Column / Calvin Trillin

Thoreau’s Radicalism and the Fight Against the Fossil-Fuel Industry

Thoreau’s Radicalism and the Fight Against the Fossil-Fuel Industry Thoreau’s Radicalism and the Fight Against the Fossil-Fuel Industry

What would it mean if we were to walk in his footsteps?

May 8, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Wen Stephenson

Adventures in Neurohumanities

Adventures in Neurohumanities Adventures in Neurohumanities

Applying neuroscience to the study of literature is fashionable. But is it the best way to read a novel?

May 8, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Alissa Quart

Nietzsche’s Marginal Children: On Friedrich Hayek

Nietzsche’s Marginal Children: On Friedrich Hayek Nietzsche’s Marginal Children: On Friedrich Hayek

How did the conservative ideas of Friedrich Hayek and the Austrian school become our economic reality? By turning the market into the realm of great politics and morals.

May 7, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Corey Robin

Barbara Bush on White House Dynasties Barbara Bush on White House Dynasties

We’ve had enough Bushes, the matriarch said. We certainly don’t need another. And Jeb, who was meant to have George’s at-bat, Smiles weakly once more at his mother.

May 1, 2013 / Column / Calvin Trillin

Shelf Life Shelf Life

Nikolai Leskov’s The Enchanted Wandered and Other Stories; Ludmilla Petrushevskaya’s There Once Lived a Girl Who Seduced Her Sister's Husband, and He Hanged Himself...

Apr 30, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Alexandra Schwartz

Risky Business: On Risk and Individualism Risky Business: On Risk and Individualism

A history of how risk management profits from manufacturing new forms of uncertainty and insecurity.

Apr 24, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Stephen Mihm

And Darkness Comes: On Aleksandar Hemon

And Darkness Comes: On Aleksandar Hemon And Darkness Comes: On Aleksandar Hemon

How did everything a writer had known and loved come violently apart?

Apr 24, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Aaron Thier

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