Books and Ideas

Nation Poetry

Koan: What is the true word? Koan: What is the true word?

May 12, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Ye Chun

The Radical Genius of Álvaro Enrigue

The Radical Genius of Álvaro Enrigue The Radical Genius of Álvaro Enrigue

His new novel is as much a work of political philosophy as it is one of fiction.

May 12, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Nicolás Medina Mora

Capitalism’s Long Revolution

Capitalism’s Long Revolution Capitalism’s Long Revolution

What happens to our understanding of capitalism when we assume that it might not come to an end?

May 11, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Corey Robin

T.S. Eliot inspecting manuscripts. Undated photograph.

Teaching Poetry in the Age of AI Teaching Poetry in the Age of AI

Poetry, perhaps more than any other genre, shows us how important it is to connect with a real human presence.

May 9, 2026 / Lindsay Turner

Hand-colored lithograph of an early baseball game seen from behind home plate, 1887.

Robert Coover at Bat Robert Coover at Bat

The postmodern writer's 1968 baseball novel is strange and poignant—a work of fiction that ultimately argues for the vitality of fiction itself.

May 7, 2026 / Books & the Arts / John Semley

Customers shop for books at the Argosy Book Store, New York City’s oldest independent bookstore, founded in 1925.

Did You Know There’s an Independent Bookstore Revival Underway? Did You Know There’s an Independent Bookstore Revival Underway?

Americans fight back against big tech.

May 5, 2026 / Katrina vanden Heuvel

Orange clouds over the west hills of Portland as the light from the sunset and smoke from historic Oregon wildfires mix over Mt. Calvary Cemetery, 2020.

A Climate Change Novel That Questions Everything A Climate Change Novel That Questions Everything

In God and Sex, Jon Raymond has recontextualized timeless novelistic questions—on faith and love—in an era of environmental collapse.

Apr 30, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Jessica Swoboda

Early movie house interior with audience and piano player, 1913.

Esther Kinsky’s Celluloid Dreams Esther Kinsky’s Celluloid Dreams

In Seeing Further, a novel obsessed with the tactile feeling of arthouse cinema, the sad state of our moviegoing comes into focus.

Apr 28, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Walker Rutter-Bowman

Wolfgang Koeppen, 1986.

Wolfgang Koeppen—“Poet of Failure” Wolfgang Koeppen—“Poet of Failure”

The German writer’s postwar works were ruthless in their condemnation of a country that, in its inability to reckon with historical atrocity, was beyond reform.

Apr 22, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Pankaj Mishra

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