Books and Ideas

Deadline for Saddam Deadline for Saddam

Saddam Hussein went to trial on Wednesday declaring he was still the president of Iraq. A series of odes a decade ago to Hussein's dictatorial days show the tyrant was always out ...

Oct 24, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Calvin Trillin

The Hidden History of Slavery in New York The Hidden History of Slavery in New York

Those who believe that slavery in America was strictly a "Southern thing" will discover an eye-opening historical record on display at the New-York Historical Society's current exh...

Oct 24, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Adele Oltman

One Possible Scenario One Possible Scenario

One twisted tale of how Harriet Miers's confirmation hearings will unfold.

Oct 20, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Calvin Trillin

Over My Dead Body Over My Dead Body

New biographies of Benito Mussolini and Marilyn Monroe contemplate exploitation of the body--in life and after death.

Oct 19, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Jon Mooallem

How Liberia Held ‘Free’ Elections How Liberia Held ‘Free’ Elections

Votes are now being counted in the first truly free election in Liberia's troubled history. It's a far cry from the 1986 election, which dictatorial Samuel Doe fraudulently "won" b...

Oct 13, 2005 / Feature / Michael Massing

Another Country Another Country

Chronicling the final, devastating months of the Civil War, E.L. Doctorow's new novel, The March, reveals the author's complex love for an earlier version of America.

Oct 12, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Vince Passaro

Frontier Injustice Frontier Injustice

In Andrew Jackson: A Life and Times, the frontier president is cast as a one-man beacon for democracy. But Jackson's core belief was a fervent defense of land.

Oct 12, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Anatol Lieven

The American Political Tradition The American Political Tradition

The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln expertly balances the roots of a political revolution: the impact of a few key leaders and the lives and aspirations of ordinar...

Oct 12, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Eric Foner

Rearranging the Furniture Rearranging the Furniture

For prose scholar Viktor Shklovsky, who lived by the code of style and studied its depths, an unhappy love affair can be as much a personal tragedy as a plot device for more writin...

Oct 6, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Elif Batuman

A Hero for Our Time A Hero for Our Time

Critics have been trumpeting Benjamin Kunkel as the voice of his generation. But his first novel, Indecision, about a 28-year-old empty vessel, is little more than an empty vessel...

Oct 6, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Mark Lotto

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