Black Mischief Black Mischief
On East Capitol Street a few years ago, I was in a taxi when a car pulled suddenly and dangerously across our bow. My driver was white, with a hunter's cap and earmuffs and an inde...
Feb 14, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Christopher Hitchens
Society of the Spectacle Society of the Spectacle
The slogans scrawled across the walls of Paris in May 1968 suggest possibilities most of us have forgotten or that were long ago deemed preposterous. "Never work!" said one sloga...
Feb 7, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Jeremy Smith
Artistic Economics Artistic Economics
At work recently, I went to get a ham sandwich from the university cafeteria. I discovered, to my vocal dismay, that the well-loved food counter offering homemade fare had been t...
Jan 3, 2002 / Books & the Arts / David Hawkes
Which America Will We Be Now? Which America Will We Be Now?
September 11 showed us true American heroes. Now let's build on their strength.
Nov 1, 2001 / Books & the Arts / Bill Moyers
The Future of the Public Intellectual: A Forum The Future of the Public Intellectual: A Forum
The following debate is adapted from a forum--put together by Basic Books and held in New York City some weeks ago. Participating were: John Donatich, who moderated and is publis...
Jan 26, 2001 / Books & the Arts / Various Participants
Lennon’s Greatest Hits Lennon’s Greatest Hits
December 8, 2000: It was twenty years ago today that Mark David Chapman shot and killed John Lennon outside the Dakota on West 72nd Street in New York City, bringing whatever was...
Nov 30, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Jon Wiener
The ‘Ism’ That Won the Century The ‘Ism’ That Won the Century
To buy or not to buy turns out to have been the question of the century in America--Just Do It or Just Say No. And in the past fifteen years, consumer society has moved to the ce...
Nov 16, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Lawrence B. Glickman
The Rise of Market Populism The Rise of Market Populism
It offers a blatant apologia for economic inequality--but few question the faith.
Oct 12, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Thomas Frank
Circus Maximus Circus Maximus
We don't have a TV at home, so we've missed the much-drubbed NBC Olympics coverage. So when a little friend of my son's said she'd been watching, I asked her if any of the event...
Sep 28, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Patricia J. Williams
Benjamin & the City of Light Benjamin & the City of Light
In September 1940, with a weak heart and even frailer nerves, Walter Benjamin carried on an old smugglers' path in the French Pyrenean foothills a big black briefcase stuffed wit...
Jan 13, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Andy Merrifield