Culture

Unlovable Unlovable

The contemporary art world, reflected in the 2008 Whitney Biennial, is themeless and heading in no identifiable direction.

May 8, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Arthur C. Danto

The Age of the Wooden Spoon The Age of the Wooden Spoon

The radical subjectivity and reckless politics of Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun find new expression in recent English translations and editions.

May 8, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Benjamin Lytal

The Counter-Family The Counter-Family

British author Jonathan Coe departs from grand social transformations and turns to the domestic sphere in The Rain Before It Falls.

May 8, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Chris Lehmann

Market Media Meltdown Market Media Meltdown

Financial news outlets, tethered to a mission to pump up confidence and support their advertisers, helped fuel the subprime meltdown.

May 8, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Danny Schechter

Looking Past Clichés Looking Past Clichés

The Visitor is that rare film that defines Arabs not as ethnic or religious stereotypes but as individuals.

May 6, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Laila Lalami

Guantánamo Ain’t No Joke Guantánamo Ain’t No Joke

Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantánamo Bay is very funny. Nothing about the real place is.

May 1, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Shayana Kadidal

Back Talk: John Turturro Back Talk: John Turturro

Actor John Turturro discusses his latest project, a production of Beckett's Endgame at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

May 1, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Christine Smallwood

Photo Ops Photo Ops

Errol Morris's new documentary Standard Operating Procedure lacks critical distance but produces masterful evocations of Abu Ghraib.

May 1, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Sweet Martin’s Badass Song Sweet Martin’s Badass Song

Several new books on Martin Luther King takes a closer look at the rhetoric and economic politics of the civil rights icon.

May 1, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Scott Saul

A Deeper Black A Deeper Black

Shelby Steele's book on Barack Obama, an outdated critique of identity politics, misses the candidate's essential power.

May 1, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Ta-Nehisi Coates

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