Literary Criticism

The Myrtle-Broadway subway station in Brooklyn, 2024.

The Rise and Fall of New York Clubbing The Rise and Fall of New York Clubbing

Emily Witt’s memoir of Brooklyn's rave scene accomplishes something that even the cynical among us cannot deny: It will make you want to go dancing.

Sep 23, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Kevin Lozano

Bosses Want Us to Work in Our Sleep Now—Literally

Bosses Want Us to Work in Our Sleep Now—Literally Bosses Want Us to Work in Our Sleep Now—Literally

Molly McGhee’s satirical 2023 novel Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind may be coming true.

Sep 19, 2024 / Sophie Lewis

The Genius of Garth Greenwell

The Genius of Garth Greenwell The Genius of Garth Greenwell

Set abroad or at home, in unfamiliar worlds an ocean away or in an intensive care unit in Iowa, Greenwell's novels are songs of the self and of the United States as a whole.

Aug 28, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Hannah Gold

Danzy Senna’s Acerbic Satires of Art and Money

Danzy Senna’s Acerbic Satires of Art and Money Danzy Senna’s Acerbic Satires of Art and Money

Having gnawed away at literary and political conventions from within their hallowed forms, Senna has now set her eyes on Hollywood.

Aug 27, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Lovia Gyarkye

New York Stock Exchange, 1895.

The Surprising Origins and Politics of Equality The Surprising Origins and Politics of Equality

A series of new books unearth the long history of egalitarian politics. They also ask whether equality, instead of another political ideal, should be at the center of our politics...

Aug 27, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Samuel Moyn

Rachel Kushner’s  Brilliant Avant-Garde Spy Thriller

Rachel Kushner’s Brilliant Avant-Garde Spy Thriller Rachel Kushner’s Brilliant Avant-Garde Spy Thriller

In Creation Lake, Kushner transforms the genre's familiar plot twists and turns into a study of the many fictions we tell one another.

Aug 27, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Nicolás Medina Mora

Buffy (Darren Robinson) of the Fat Boys in Chicago, 1985.

Questlove’s Personal History of Hip-Hop Questlove’s Personal History of Hip-Hop

An elegiac retelling of rap's origins, Hip-Hop Is History also ends with a sense of hope.

Aug 27, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Bijan Stephen

Then–US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifying before the Senate Budget Committee in 2009.

The Intractable Puzzle of Growth The Intractable Puzzle of Growth

For more than a century, the key measure of a healthy economy has been its capacity to grow and yet if production and consumption continues to expand at their current rate we migh...

Aug 26, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Benjamin Kunkel

Percival Everett’s Great American Novel

Percival Everett’s Great American Novel Percival Everett’s Great American Novel

In his new novel James, Everett reminds us of the thorny absurdity that is U.S. history.

Aug 19, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Omari Weekes

A soccer team consisting of members of the Communist International. Moscow, Russia, 1921.

The Lost Stories of the Communist International The Lost Stories of the Communist International

The focus of Brigitte Studer’s Travellers of the World Revolution is not the leadership and changing politics of the Comintern but the history of its rank and file.

Aug 6, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Tony Wood

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