Books and Ideas

As AI Breathes Down Our Necks, It’s Time for a Luddite Renaissance

As AI Breathes Down Our Necks, It’s Time for a Luddite Renaissance As AI Breathes Down Our Necks, It’s Time for a Luddite Renaissance

Nineteenth-century textile workers longed to stay human in a machine age. So do we.

Apr 7, 2026 / Feature / John Nichols

Man waring a suit sits in a courtroom.

Kash Patel Kash Patel

Apr 7, 2026 / Column / Calvin Trillin

What Happened to Tucker Carlson?

What Happened to Tucker Carlson? What Happened to Tucker Carlson?

The transformation of a once promising, if conservative, magazine journalist into a conspiracy-minded talking head.

Apr 7, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Chris Lehmann

Harry Haywood and the Radical Politics of Black Communism

Harry Haywood and the Radical Politics of Black Communism Harry Haywood and the Radical Politics of Black Communism

For Haywood, a truly radical working-class politics in the United States also required a program of self-determination.

Apr 7, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Elias Rodriques

Ben Lerner’s Novel of Fathers and Sons

Ben Lerner’s Novel of Fathers and Sons Ben Lerner’s Novel of Fathers and Sons

His most experimental and unsettling book, Transcription as us whether art is futile or the most important weapon we have.

Apr 7, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Tara K. Menon

Jay McInerney’s Yuppie New York

Jay McInerney’s Yuppie New York Jay McInerney’s Yuppie New York

The novelist has spent a career mocking and romanticizing the lifestyle of New York's bourgeoisie. Now, in his latest, he examines them as they come to the end of their lives.

Apr 6, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Erin Somers

A Facebook Data Center in Swedish Lapland.

What Is Artificial Intelligence Anyway? What Is Artificial Intelligence Anyway?

Separating out the myths and facts of AI.

Apr 6, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Ben Tarnoff

Gertrude Stein holding her dog Pepe, 1939.

The Enigma of Gertrude Stein The Enigma of Gertrude Stein

Why do we misunderstand one of modernism’s great writers?

Mar 30, 2026 / Books & the Arts / David Schurman Wallace

A woman cleans the street near the Drum Tower in Beijing, 2025.

What Its Like to Serve the Chinese Elite What Its Like to Serve the Chinese Elite

Zhang Yueran’s novel Women, Seated—a take on the upstairs, downstairs drama—examines class conflict among the Chinese upper crust and the people who wait on them.

Mar 27, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Ting Lin

In “Bomarzo,” the Renaissance Man is a Monster

In “Bomarzo,” the Renaissance Man is a Monster In “Bomarzo,” the Renaissance Man is a Monster

Manuel Mujica Lainez’s historical novel, a strange biography of a 16th-century duke, leaves the reader wondering if human nature can ever change.

Mar 26, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Max Pearl

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