The Novel ‘Disquiet’ Explores Turkey’s Turmoil and the Refugee Crisis
Zülfü Livaneli’s Disquiet depicts the cruelty of Turkey’s culture wars with a literary virtuosity that demands a global audience.
Politics
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Biographer Kai Bird Shows Former US President Jimmy Carter as a Man Ahead of His Times
Kai Bird’s biography argues that former US President Jimmy Carter was a prophet of uncomfortable truths who urged America to reevaluate its myths and thorniest problems.
‘Doom’ Illustrates Niall Ferguson’s Historical Flaws
While historian Niall Ferguson’s broad survey of human catastrophe, Doom, has erudition, insight, and sweep, it is frequently derailed by contrarian carping.
Capitalism Chemistry or ‘Drug Use for Grown-ups’
Our capitalist language of minute gradations and improvised adjustments—of the plasticity of bodies and minds—places drugs in the service of economies of labor, production, and value.
Writing in the Margins: Prize-Winning French Novelist Alice Zeniter on the Legacies of French Colonialism
Alice Zeniter’s excellent novel, The Art of Losing, tells the story of an Algerian Harkis family and the reaching effects of French Colonialism.
Textbook on Film: The Political As Personal in the Films of Kurosawa
Kurosawa’s films often act as deliberate examinations of historical periods, exploring difficult realities that existed and the ordeals of the individuals.
Nate Powell’s Graphic Non-Fiction ‘Save It for Later’ Urges Readers to Remember the Trump Era
Life during the destructive Trump era spurred a new level of activism. Nate Powell’s collection of comics essays, ‘Save It for Later’, wants to keep that fire going.
Pauline Harmange’s Controversial ‘I Hate Men’ Takes on Blind Privilege
Is misandry the best response to male misogynists? In I Hate Men, Harmange argues that a form of misandry is necessary for women's survival.
‘Black Against Empire’ Assumes a Central and Critical Spot within the Black Panther Canon
Black Against Empire attempts something beyond the scope of power-to-the-people flashbacks of Afros, dashikis, and raised fists: it takes the Black Panther Party seriously as a political entity taking dead aim on American laws and values.
‘Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President’ Portrays an Over-Simplified Man
The nostalgic, feel-good documentary, ‘Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President’, explores Carter’s connections to the music world but misses a lot about this not-so-simple man.
How the Cultural Revolution Turned China Against Itself
Yang Jisheng's remarkable historical autopsy, The World Turned Upside Down, is scrupulous in detailing the Cultural Revolution's horrors and insanities but too often leaves out the human side of history.