Culture

The Children’s Hospital: On David Foster Wallace

The Children’s Hospital: On David Foster Wallace The Children’s Hospital: On David Foster Wallace

Vulnerability was what made David Foster Wallace so beloved, but it often led him to surrender too much in his fiction.

Jun 15, 2011 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz

Shelf Life: On ‘Granta’

Shelf Life: On ‘Granta’ Shelf Life: On ‘Granta’

Under the editorship of John Freeman and Ellah Allfrey, Granta is thriving again.

Jun 15, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Scott Sherman

The Hills Are Alive: On the Lakotas and the Black Hills

The Hills Are Alive: On the Lakotas and the Black Hills The Hills Are Alive: On the Lakotas and the Black Hills

The story of the Lakotas does not end with their loss of the Black Hills or the massacre at Wounded Knee.

Jun 15, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Ari Kelman

Oreo Oreo

Miriam felt that a wolf spider was stalking our pet cricket, Oreo who lives in a small indented "crouching pit" next to the refrigerator   So I followed the spider’s wanderings then put a glass jar atop slid a paper underneath & carried it out to the garden   She pointed out that Oreo had halted its chirping while the wolf was on the floor   then resumed          when I carried it out:   When the wolf peeks through the door-jamb no more baaing from the lamb

Jun 15, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Ed Sanders

Dan Sinker: How the Fake Rahm Emanuel Twitter Account Is Influencing the Next Generation of Satire Dan Sinker: How the Fake Rahm Emanuel Twitter Account Is Influencing the Next Generation of Satire

The man behind the @MayorEmanuel Twitter account talks about writing a real-time novel with tweets and how social media networks are ushering in a new generation of satire.

Jun 14, 2011 / Video / The Nation

The Canting Crew The Canting Crew

A new edition of The First English Dictionary of Slang is a saucy survey of the rogue jargon of the late seventeenth century.

Jun 14, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko

Slide Show: A Gil Scott-Heron Retrospective Slide Show: A Gil Scott-Heron Retrospective

Gil Scott-Heron was a pioneering poet and musician. His unique musical fusion of jazz, blues, rap, funk, and soul was captivating and his radical political vision was transformativ…

Jun 9, 2011 / Books & the Arts / The Nation

Little Churches Everywhere: California’s Evangelical Conservatism

Little Churches Everywhere: California’s Evangelical Conservatism Little Churches Everywhere: California’s Evangelical Conservatism

As contradictory as the gospel truths of California's digerati are the dogmas of West Coast evangelicalism, a melding of Jefferson and Jesus.

Jun 7, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Chris Lehmann

A Test of Loyalties: The Exiles of the American Revolution A Test of Loyalties: The Exiles of the American Revolution

Between a fifth and a third of the white population remained loyal to Britain in 1776. Why?

Jun 7, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Nicholas Guyatt

Whimbrel Whimbrel

Kin to the limpkin,   she whimpers when primping,   wears rimless eyeglasses   for skimming her primer   on swimming. She splashes   through grasses amassing   her ration of shrimp,   and stands, a fat ampersand,   on the sandpaper strand   making eyes at a snipe,   fanning the passions   of the sandpiper nations.

Jun 7, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Sidney Wade

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