Cultural Criticism and Analysis

Garbage and Gravitas

Garbage and Gravitas Garbage and Gravitas

Ayn Rand was a melodramatist of the moral life: the battle is between the producer and the moochers, and it must end in life or death.

May 20, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Corey Robin

Talking With Tony Judt

Talking With Tony Judt Talking With Tony Judt

A discussion with the author of Ill Fares the Land about social democracy, trains and our desiccated ethical vocabulary.

Apr 29, 2010 / Back Talk Conversations / Christine Smallwood

Swing Time: On Morris Dickstein Swing Time: On Morris Dickstein

Morris Dickstein's elegant cultural history of the Great Depression.

Feb 4, 2010 / Books & the Arts / D.D. Guttenplan

The Love We Lost The Love We Lost

Like the terrorist, the sex offender is a new category of human being.

Jan 21, 2010 / Books & the Arts / JoAnn Wypijewski

Gladwell for Dummies Gladwell for Dummies

Malcolm Gladwell's success as a brand-name thinker rests on the assumption that the unexamined life is the only sort his readers could be living.

Nov 5, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Maureen Tkacik

The Down Side of Thinking Positive The Down Side of Thinking Positive

Nation contributor Barbara Ehrenreich presents Bright Sided, her new book about the negative aspect of positive thinking.

Oct 23, 2009 / Books & the Arts / GRITtv

Suspended Sentences Suspended Sentences

Eliot Weinberger's enigmatic essays save him from becoming a prisoner of his polemical style.

Sep 30, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Scott Saul

Wild About Harry Wild About Harry

Taking a cue from FDR, Britain launches the New Deal of the Mind.

Apr 15, 2009 / Books & the Arts / D.D. Guttenplan

Back Talk: Toni Morrison Back Talk: Toni Morrison

The Nobel Prize-winning author talks about Barack Obama, the writer; language; and her new novel, A Mercy.

Nov 19, 2008 / Back Talk Conversations / Christine Smallwood

Stewartsville: George R. Stewart’s Names on the Land Stewartsville: George R. Stewart’s Names on the Land

What possessed the fierce individualist George R. Stewart to compile a history of place-naming in the United States?

Nov 19, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Christine Smallwood

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