Nancy Drew’s Forever American Girlhood
Will the iconic Nancy Drew character created 95 years ago be left in the past, or will she make her place in today’s ideal of American girlhood?
Books
Features, reviews, interviews, and lists about books including cultural commentary and history, non-fiction, literature, and more.
Ella Jenkins’ Biography Sings Her Song
Gayle F. Wald’s Ella Jenkins’ biography sings Jenkins’ commitment to social justice and her important multicultural and participatory approach to teaching children music.
Adrian Mole’s Very English Portrait of Male Anguish
In Sue Townsend’s hands, comedy doesn’t soften despair; it sharpens it. Her creation, Adrian Mole, is a most perfectly flawed portrait of loneliness and failure.
‘Everything Is Now’ Digs Into NYC’s Avant-Garde Ferment
Everything Is Now expertly demonstrates how NYC’s varied avant-garde subcultures were birthed in cold-water lofts, coffeehouses, and tiny storefront galleries and theaters.
Harry Potter’s Ultimate Übermensch
While Nietzschean themes haunt the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling conveys her morality tale of the Übermensch.
Japanese Literature Rewards No One
In a dim reflection of Japan’s rootless young people in 2025, the coveted literary awards, Akutagawa and Naoki, awarded … no one.
‘Calls May Be Recorded’ Intentionally Disconnects
Katharina Volckmer’s tale of an isolated soul’s yearning for connection, Calls May Be Recorded intentionally disconnects with its readers in that funny/not funny way.
Shoegaze, Virginia Woolf, and Dissolute Structures
As with shoegaze’s crescendoing textures, there’s a sheer force of sensory feeling in Virginia Woolf’s verisimilitude.
Gravity’s Rainbow Under Today’s Hypersonic Skies
In our era of awe-inspiring hypersonic weaponry, we turn to Thomas Pynchon, who warns in Gravity’s Rainbow that the Rocket is never mere hardware; it is a nihilistic creed whose liturgy is speed.
Bad Wisdom’s Artful Offensiveness
Bad Wisdom is a brilliantly savagely offensive, gleeful parody of the rock ’n’ roll messiah complex, the seeker-narrative, and the entire tradition of male spiritual self-aggrandisement.
‘Separation of Church and Hate’ Reclaims the Good Book
Comedian John Fugelsang organized The Separation of Church and Hate as a reference guide to encourage conversation about the Good Book during our fraught cultural-political times.
Junji Ito’s Hypnotizing Body Horror
In Junji Ito’s body horror manga Gyo, the invasive parasitic infection forces compliance. You will be taken, you will be inflated, and then you will dance.