The Unwinding of America
Long before the 2016 election, Bill Moyers and George Packer each had a hunch about decades of rising resentment and anger at the system.
Libya: A Fractured Land
To most Americans, Libya is a big, fat nothing. In his three books Hisham Matar gives us reason to reconsider.
Doppelgangers Make Strange Bedfellows
My summer of dark, duplicitous, and dastardly doppelgangers: the genius of Dostoyevsky and his legacy.
Of Pea Pods and the Misbegotten
Genetics began in the ancient forests of eastern Europe . . . then was literally hijacked by eugenists.
The Hot Furnace of Racial Fear
Philosopher of Black Lives Matter, Ta-Nahesi Coates, gets personal in an open letter to his son.
Behind Miles Ahead
Before Jazz Fusion, there was Miles Davis . . . and for many years afterwards as well.
M Train
The nine lives of jazz poet and Punk Rock chanteuse Patti Smith. Who is she really?
Walling Off the Hordes
There is a beauty to defensive walls. But one thing you can bet on: they will be breached, as they were even in Chaucer’s day.
Thumbs Out – New Stories 1
Miranda July and Etgar Keret have written fascinating, jolly good stories
The Year of Lear
This latest book by James Shapiro gives a whole new meaning to Guy Fawkes Night . . . circa 1606.
3-D Printing Takes to the Runway
Otherworldly fashion designer Iris van Herpen gets a museum show.