Cultural Criticism and Analysis

A person views Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” at the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid on April 3, 2017.

Art During Wartime Art During Wartime

Can it really be that to call for sympathy with victims of murder and kidnapping is necessarily to demand violence in return?

Mar 14, 2024 / Barry Schwabsky

What Happened to the 21st-Century City?

What Happened to the 21st-Century City? What Happened to the 21st-Century City?

And how we can save it.

Mar 12, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Kate Wagner

The Enchanted Worlds of Marshall Sahlins

The Enchanted Worlds of Marshall Sahlins The Enchanted Worlds of Marshall Sahlins

What if we saw the study of ghosts, gods, and other metapersons as worthy of a science of its own?

Mar 6, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Anna Della Subin

Lisa Vanderpump and Tom Sandoval, of “Vanderpump Rules,” at Bravocon in Las Vegas, Nev., 2023.

Are Autofiction and Reality TV the Same? Are Autofiction and Reality TV the Same?

A conversation with the literary critic Anna Kornbluh on her new book Immediacy, a searing indictment of a newly prevalent aesthetic of verisimilitude and the first person.

Mar 4, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Lily Meyer

Then–US President Donald Trump holds a Bible outside of St. John's Episcopal church in Washington, D.C., on June 1, 2020. Trump was due to make a televised address to the nation after days of protests against police brutality.

Hit Trump on Theocracy, Not Hypocrisy Hit Trump on Theocracy, Not Hypocrisy

The former president’s alliance with religious fanatics is a far bigger problem than his lack of piety.

Feb 23, 2024 / Jeet Heer

A scene from About Dry Grasses.

The Genius of Nuri Bilge Ceylan The Genius of Nuri Bilge Ceylan

About Dry Grasses is long, dense, elliptical—and brilliant.

Feb 26, 2024 / Books & the Arts / A. S. Hamrah

An illustration of interior design, 1951.

The Bad Politics of Good Taste The Bad Politics of Good Taste

Nathalie Olah’s exploration of the ethics of tastefulness dissects the class-bounded nature of most social and cultural mores.

Feb 15, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Lauren Kelly

Charleston Removes John C. Calhoun Statue From City's Marion Square

The Party of Lincoln Is Really the Party of Calhoun The Party of Lincoln Is Really the Party of Calhoun

Nikki Haley and Greg Abbott echo the theorist of secession.

Feb 2, 2024 / Jeet Heer

Is Derek Penslar the Wrong Kind of Jew for Harvard?

Is Derek Penslar the Wrong Kind of Jew for Harvard? Is Derek Penslar the Wrong Kind of Jew for Harvard?

He’s a distinguished scholar, director of Harvard’s Center for Jewish Studies, and former president of the American Academy for Jewish Research. But Bill Ackman doesn’t like him.

Feb 2, 2024 / Eric Alterman

Has Cuba Met the End of History?

Has Cuba Met the End of History? Has Cuba Met the End of History?

In Cubanthropy, the critic Iván de la Nuez traces how the island nation and its diaspora shoulder the legacy of the revolution.

Feb 6, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Miriam Pensack

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