This Is a Recording: On Alan Lomax This Is a Recording: On Alan Lomax
How Alan Lomax became the most significant Baedeker of America’s folkways.
Aug 24, 2011 / Books & the Arts / David Yaffe
Undersong Undersong
When the bottom drops out of August when the bottom drops and the summer disc burns deep in its bed when nerves sing, blaze, and flame their circuit when the bottom of August sticks out and clouds above change shape when bodies inside spin and change shape the bottom falls and meaning peeks out with chagrin the hot skin of August no longer sending messages of summer birds no longer at rest when the winds pick up and the cool air is just behind it all the bottom of the news story reveals itself the story is cold
Aug 22, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Peter Gizzi
The Newest Avenger: Superhero to Challenge Race Politics The Newest Avenger: Superhero to Challenge Race Politics
When he makes his comeback this fall, Spiderman will ditch Peter Parker’s persona as scrawny, awkward, white, science-nerd and adopt a new one as the half-black, half-Latino ...
Aug 16, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Maria Kari
A ‘Troublemaker’ Looks Back on an Era of Hope and Upheaval A ‘Troublemaker’ Looks Back on an Era of Hope and Upheaval
For half a century, Bill Zimmerman has labored for progressive causes as an organizer and political consultant. In a new memoir, he looks back on his career with an unwavering comm...
Aug 15, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Danny Goldberg
HBO’s Gloria Steinem Doc Glosses over Race, and Fails to Assess the Second Wave’s Legacy HBO’s Gloria Steinem Doc Glosses over Race, and Fails to Assess the Second Wave’s Legacy
Gloria Steinem and Second Wave feminism deserve a far more sophisticated and critical treatment.
Aug 12, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Dana Goldstein
Crazy, Stupid, Republicans Crazy, Stupid, Republicans
Eric has never written for US News, and he is frustrated with T-Mobile.
Aug 12, 2011 / Blog / Eric Alterman
Cut, Cap and Balance Cut, Cap and Balance
(A Republican version of “Brush Up Your Shakespeare,” from Kiss Me, Kate) Cut, cap and balance. Just turn off the tap. Cut, cap and balance. Shut that purse up with a snap. Let’s cut wasteful programs in bunches— Like research and poor kids’ school lunches. All life is not really a fed affair, So let’s take a scalpel to Medicare. ’Cause if rich people pay less in taxes We’ll still whip that Evil old Axis. All citizens will be in clover If we just heed the teaching of Grover. Cut, cap and balance. Balance, cut and cap.
Aug 10, 2011 / Column / Calvin Trillin
Inhuman Bondage: On Slavery, Emancipation and Human Rights Inhuman Bondage: On Slavery, Emancipation and Human Rights
Robin Blackburn's The American Crucible treats modern slavery as an international institution with national histories.
Aug 10, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Eric Foner
Shelf Life Shelf Life
On Reza Aslan’s Tablet and Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East.
Aug 10, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Elias Muhanna
Sentimentality or Honesty? On Charles Taylor Sentimentality or Honesty? On Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor is a sadly endangered type: the philosopher-statesman.
Aug 10, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Mark Oppenheimer