Cultural Criticism and Analysis

“Succession” for suckers: While Lachlan Murdoch (left) gets the fancy title, Rupert retains the ultimate power.

Rupert Murdoch’s Final Con Game Rupert Murdoch’s Final Con Game

Announcing his exit, the right-wing baron mixes public populism and private elitism.

Sep 25, 2023 / Jeet Heer

A security guard stands in the doorway during a press viewing of

What Museum Guards See What Museum Guards See

A recent memoir by Patrick Bringley about his time working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art illustrates the intimate knowledge guards possess of the pieces they protect.

Sep 25, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky

Joe Matt

Farewell to a Poor Bastard Farewell to a Poor Bastard

Joe Matt (1963–2023) made hilarious comedy of his own misery.

Sep 21, 2023 / Obituary / Jeet Heer

Malick Bauer in Sam - A Saxon

German Like Me German Like Me

Culture / September 20, 2023 German Like Me How an Afro-German TV series about the GDR’s first Black police officer became an international hit. Linda Mannheim Share Facebook T…

Sep 20, 2023 / Linda Mannheim

Lauren Boebert points toward the crowd onstage

Lauren Boebert Is Not the Only Republican Ruining Musicals Lauren Boebert Is Not the Only Republican Ruining Musicals

How failed theater kids are destroying a great art form—and American politics.

Sep 18, 2023 / Jeet Heer

Kate Zambreno’s Lessons in Looking

Kate Zambreno’s Lessons in Looking Kate Zambreno’s Lessons in Looking

A conversation about how the pandemic changed our relationship to the natural world, distrusting beauty, the challenges of writing about climate change, and her new book, The Ligh...

Sep 12, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Larissa Pham

What It Takes to Be a Public Intellectual

What It Takes to Be a Public Intellectual What It Takes to Be a Public Intellectual

In 2014, Adam Shatz’s “Writers or Missionaries” appeared in The Nation, a piece about his relationship, as a Jewish American journalist, to the political conflicts in the Arab-spea…

Aug 15, 2023 / Books & the Arts / J. Howard Rosier

Robbie Robertson circa November 1994 at The National Museum of the American Indian in New York City.

The Indigenous Roots of Robbie Robertson’s Rock and Roll Revolution The Indigenous Roots of Robbie Robertson’s Rock and Roll Revolution

The music called Americana was created by a Jewish-Canadian-Cayuga-Mohawk.

Aug 14, 2023 / Jeet Heer

Screenshot of Richard Hanania talking to Bryan Caplan

Why Does This Racist Keep Getting Silicon Valley Money? Why Does This Racist Keep Getting Silicon Valley Money?

The charmed life of Richard Hanania.

Aug 11, 2023 / Jeet Heer

A mural by street artist Jorit Agoch, depicting Pier Paolo Pasolini, in the Scampia district of Naples, 2019.

Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Eye Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Eye

For the Italian filmmaker, the act of seeing was its own kind of art.

Aug 2, 2023 / Books & the Arts / T.J. Clark

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