Gaddis’s Kennan: Strategies of Disparagement Gaddis’s Kennan: Strategies of Disparagement
Intent on blaming the cold war simply on Soviet perfidy, John Lewis Gaddis does a disservice to the subject of his biography—and to his readers.
Mar 14, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Eric Alterman
Dreaming in French: On Angela Davis Dreaming in French: On Angela Davis
Angela Davis’s student years in France were an alchemy of discipline and distraction.
Mar 14, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Alice Kaplan
Shelf Life Shelf Life
Laurent Dubois’s Hati: The Aftershocks of History.
Mar 14, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Joshua Jelly-Schapiro
The Suit The Suit
She said take it off slowly so I can Master when it begins; I want to watch How you work button by button through Each skillful undertaking and so he moved As if to include her but she would not touch Or help with jacket or tie, determined To solve from where he comes and also To learn the color of how he can disappear Into the sea of more and more Black. She is tired of thinking Further. This time everything off until the firmament Shows up. Upon which she puts down the compass Of her body to lie along the pressed Cloth and slip into all that dark material Each arm, wrist against each cuff to see how It is done.
Mar 14, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Sophie Cabot Black
Contraception (of All Things) Contraception (of All Things)
Republicans are bashing birth control, As candidates far-rightward scurry. The voters haven’t heard such talk in years. We’re going backward in a hurry.
Mar 7, 2012 / Column / Calvin Trillin
Till the Knowing Ends: On William Gass Till the Knowing Ends: On William Gass
In Life Sentences, William Gass shows that consciousness needs to be stressed to be strengthened.
Mar 7, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Joanna Scott
Faces out of the Crowd: On the Renaissance Portrait Faces out of the Crowd: On the Renaissance Portrait
How Renaissance painters brought human presence to the fore.
Mar 7, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
The Uprooted The Uprooted
A new history of Europe’s postwar world and its displaced persons.
Mar 7, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Holly Case
I Thought That I Would Never See a Pol Who Loved the Height of Trees I Thought That I Would Never See a Pol Who Loved the Height of Trees
“I love this state. It seems right here. The trees are the right height.” —Mitt Romney, in his home state of Michigan Away from here, I find no trees that please— No trees at such a perfect height as these. For me, I cannot ever be at ease With trees that grow no higher than one’s knees Or too tall trees that splinter in a freeze. Wisconsin, sure, has bragging rights on cheese. And California’s rich in Cantonese. And Colorado’s where to take your skis. Connecticut, of course, has Lyme disease. At none of these am I prepared to sneeze. But here we have the perfect height of trees.
Feb 29, 2012 / Column / Calvin Trillin
Duvalier and Haiti’s Triple Threat Duvalier and Haiti’s Triple Threat
Why was Baby Doc able to return after decades of exile and evade justice, despite his crimes?
Feb 29, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Amy Wilentz