Shakespeare’s Wife
Harpy, ingrate, cradle robber? For centuries Anne Hathaway has been assailed by critics. Now two
acclaimed writers have cried “hold enough!” to the slings and arrows of outrageous Bardolatry.
Esteban in His Own Words
Never heard of him? An African slave and Spanish explorer? His contribution is the stuff of legend, but the man himself remains a puzzle. Is there a novelist in the house?
The Big Oakland Powwow
Tommy Orange’s explosive first novel invokes voices of tribal despair and lost heritage, as a growing number of Native Americans have migrated to the inner cities.
The Library Chronicles
Susan Orlean takes us back 33 years to the burning of the LA Public Library, when sprinklers failed, books became sparklers, and the thermometer soared way over Fahrenheit 451.
Metamorphosis Redux
Nigerian writer A. Igoni Barrett puts a new spin on Franz Kafka’s story. Riffing on the classics is still very much a thing.
Montezuma’s Sweet Revenge
Next year we celebrate the quincentennial of “The Meeting” between the Aztecs and the Spanish. A new miniseries is in the works. Here’s your primer.
Rise of the New Francophones
French African writers inhabit a netherworld between culture and language—just ask Alain Mabanckou and Fatou Diome.
Breaking Down A.I.
A look at what Rosie the Robot (and others) still haven’t delivered to the table. Plus, how do those “thinking machines” do it? Are we prepared to submit to our robot overlords?
Our Refugees, Our Enemies
Novelists Viet Thanh Nguyen and Bao Ninh stand on opposite ends of a cultural divide. Yet they are both Vietnamese. Should it be surprising they have so much in common?
Alternate History 101
Many believe a fascist takeover of America is utterly impossible. A closer look from three alternate accounts of history may shed some needed light.
An All-New Moby-Dick
A thrilling new adaptation resurrects Ishmael, Queequeg, Starbuck, Ahab and the Great White. Some thoughts on how this classic fish story still sucks us under.
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.
The Hot Furnace of Racial Fear
Philosopher of Black Lives Matter, Ta-Nahesi Coates, gets personal in an open letter to his son.
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.
Submission
The notorious French writer and in-your-face bad boy Michel Houellebecq imagines a Muslim takeover of France in 2022.