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The Original Punk Rock PI: On Rex Weiner’s Ford Fairlane
Cullen Gallagher rides shotgun with Ford Fairlane, the punk rock PI created by author Rex Weiner.
Oct 20, 2018
- Noir
Meaning to Chaos
On “The Cold Summer” by Gianrico Carofiglio.
Glenn HarperOct 20, 2018
- Around the World
- Noir
Higher Laughter: On Jim Holt
"When Einstein Walked with Gödel" is a perfect bedtime book, with each essay providing a luminous devotional on heavy topics, delivered with a light touch.
David KordahlOct 19, 2018
- Memoir & Essay
- Science & Technology
Second Acts: A Second Look at Second Books of Poetry: Joan Murray and Christopher Gilbert
Lisa Russ Spaar takes a second look at second, posthumous books by poets Joan Murray and Christopher Gilbert.
Lisa Russ SpaarOct 18, 2018
- Poetry
California Sons: Miriam Pawel’s “The Browns of California”
Jake Wertz reviews “The Browns of California,” a four-generation biography of the Brown family and a portrait of the state they shaped.
Jake WertzOct 17, 2018
- History
- Politics
Cold War Cold Files
A Hungarian author confronts his parents’ Cold War past.
Ksenya GurshteinOct 17, 2018
Writing Algeria
Kamel Daoud is a brilliant, indeed dazzling, thinker: his sharp turns in thought and language, as well as his subject matter, gave me motion sickness.
Jennifer SolheimOct 16, 2018
A Polish Snow Globe: On Adam Mickiewicz’s “Pan Tadeusz: The Last Foray in Lithuania”
Josh Billings revels in Bill Johnston’s “meticulous” translation of “Pan Tadeusz: The Last Foray in Lithuania” by the great Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz.
Josh BillingsOct 16, 2018
In the In-Between: Identity, Place, and Nuance in Anita Felicelli’s “Love Songs for a Lost Continent”
"Love Songs for a Lost Continent" by Anita Felicelli, her debut short story collection, is a marvel of nuance, with each story complicating the narrative.
Ilana MasadOct 15, 2018
- Fiction
Asylum, Again: Why We Need to Stop Punishing the Mentally Ill
As more and more prisons become warehouses for the mentally ill, is it time to go back to the asylum? Taylor Beck explores, via Alisa Roth's "Insane."
Taylor BeckOct 15, 2018
- Politics
- Science & Technology
Giving Voice to the Various
Ben Fountain takes a look at his country and describes it in dazzling language.
Linda BamberOct 14, 2018
- Politics
The Opiate of the Masses? Not So Fast.
In "Why We Need Religion," Stephen T. Asma argues that religion answers to a deep emotional need and therefore plays an irreplaceable role in societies.
Todd MayOct 14, 2018
- Philosophy & Religion
- Religion
Tales of Monstrous Women: “The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter” and “European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman” by Theodora Goss
While delivering two rollicking tales of adventure, Theodora Goss also has something important to say about women and monsters.
Ilana TeitelbaumOct 13, 2018
- SF
American Idiots, American Killers, and the American Graphic Novel
Paul Morton reviews Jules Feiffer's latest graphic novel, "The Ghost Script."
Paul MortonOct 13, 2018
- Comics
- Politics
The Biggest US City That Shouldn’t Exist
An entertaining history of one of the United States’s most improbable cities.
Robin Kaiser-SchatzleinOct 12, 2018
- History
- Politics
The Love Story We Need
A young adult novel that restores readers’ faith in the romantic comedy genre.
J. B. HowardOct 12, 2018
- Young Adult & Children’s Literature