The Ballad of John and J.D.: On John Lennon and J.D. Salinger The Ballad of John and J.D.: On John Lennon and J.D. Salinger
Mark David Chapman was carrying a copy of The Catcher in the Rye when he shot John Lennon. The murder was a collision of cultures.
Jan 27, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Charles Taylor
Obama: Triangulation 2.0? Obama: Triangulation 2.0?
In year three, will Obama heed the lessons of Clinton or Reagan?
Jan 20, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Ari Berman
A Short Analysis of Sarah Palin’s Video Speech on the Tucson Shootings A Short Analysis of Sarah Palin’s Video Speech on the Tucson Shootings
What's uppermost on her mind.
Jan 20, 2011 / Column / Calvin Trillin
Library Man: On Claude Lévi-Strauss Library Man: On Claude Lévi-Strauss
With a sharp eye for cultural patterns and a keen feel for the shape of a story, Claude Lévi-Strauss was a poet in the laboratory of anthropology.
Jan 19, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Thomas Meaney
Perfect-Bound: On Elizabeth Hardwick Perfect-Bound: On Elizabeth Hardwick
Elizabeth Hardwick found New York's jittery impermanence and inchoate density to be an obstacle for the fiction writer.
Jan 19, 2011 / Books & the Arts / James Marcus
An Atlas of Reckonings An Atlas of Reckonings
The horrors of The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database arise through the cumulative weight of its abstract pieces of information.
Jan 19, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Robin Einhorn
House Republicans Plan Symbolic Repeal Vote on the Healthcare Law House Republicans Plan Symbolic Repeal Vote on the Healthcare Law
"We'll show the poor."
Jan 13, 2011 / Column / Calvin Trillin
Empty Rooms: On Nicole Krauss Empty Rooms: On Nicole Krauss
Nicole Krauss's Great House swings from the evocative to the overcharged.
Jan 12, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Alexandra Schwartz
Literature and Exile Literature and Exile
Books are the only homeland of the true writer, books that may sit on shelves or in the memory.
Jan 12, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Roberto Bolaño
Vanishing Points: Language Poetry Remembered Vanishing Points: Language Poetry Remembered
The Grand Piano is a highbrow Friends—a collective history of the early years of Language poetry.
Jan 12, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky