What’s Wrong With the New Figurative Painting? What’s Wrong With the New Figurative Painting?
With dealers and curators jumping on the figurative bandwagon, we have to look more closely at whether a new cohort of painters succeeds at what they’re attempting.
Oct 30, 2019 / Barry Schwabsky
Why Trump Released a Transcript That Revealed Him Committing a Crime Why Trump Released a Transcript That Revealed Him Committing a Crime
The call, he said, was proved proper. He’s called it “perfect” all along. That’s just more proof, if more were needed: He can’t distinguish right from wrong.
Oct 29, 2019 / Column / Calvin Trillin
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Narratives of Freedom Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Narratives of Freedom
History has always been a weapon in the hands of Ta-Nehisi Coates. Now, in his debut novel, the social critic and essayist sets out to recover those struggles for emancipation that...
Oct 29, 2019 / Books & the Arts / Elias Rodriques
Zadie Smith’s Turn to Short Fiction Zadie Smith’s Turn to Short Fiction
In her first short story collection, the novelist and essayist offers us both cautionary tales and experimental riffs.
Oct 29, 2019 / Books & the Arts / Rumaan Alam
Jill Lepore’s Liberal Gospel Jill Lepore’s Liberal Gospel
Against a “postmodernism” that she claims suffuses left-wing and right-wing politics, the prolific historian and New Yorker staff writer makes her case for a liberal patriotism and...
Oct 29, 2019 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Immerwahr
The Promise of Pan-Africanism The Promise of Pan-Africanism
As much as it was an organized movement, Pan-Africanism was an ideal, culture, and lived experience that helped galvanize generations into action.
Oct 29, 2019 / Books & the Arts / Adom Getachew
What Is Living and What Is Dead in John Rawls’s Theory of Justice? What Is Living and What Is Dead in John Rawls’s Theory of Justice?
With liberalism in crisis, contemporary political philosophy has taken on a funereal mood. But is there something still worth saving in the “high liberalism” of the 20th century?
Oct 29, 2019 / Books & the Arts / Seyla Benhabib
Whose Side Is Clarence Thomas On? Whose Side Is Clarence Thomas On?
A new book argues that the Supreme Court justice’s early embrace of black nationalism is central to understanding his politics and jurisprudence. But perhaps far better guides are ...
Oct 29, 2019 / Books & the Arts / Randall Kennedy
Jonathan Safran Foer and the Limits of Liberal Climate Politics Jonathan Safran Foer and the Limits of Liberal Climate Politics
Addressing climate change will take a whole lot more than changing our diets.
Oct 29, 2019 / Books & the Arts / Kate Aronoff