The Story-as-Database
Elysium is a book about identity politics, about history and collective memory, about technology and culture, and ultimately about extermination and genocide.
All Reviews
Wild Literary Geographies
David Gessner gives us some hope, even as he provides a renewed understanding of the true vulnerability of the American West.
The Serial Reader
The new Vivian Gornick memoir isn't exactly "new," but it's still electrifying.
The Unfamiliar
Such a wide-ranging, multivoiced novel invites readings from many perspectives and areas of expertise; it is perhaps best read in a group.
Un Coup d’idées: A New Translation of Mallarmé’s “A Roll of the Dice”
Can Stéphane Mallarmé and the greatest literary gamble of the 1890s still look risky and radical to 21st-century readers?
Sisters Who Slay Together
At the crux of "Sisters Red," Jackson Pearce's dark YA novel, is a series of questions about self-determination.
Messy Places
A review of Kate Brown's "Dispatches from Dystopia," which tells stories of Chernobyl and other corrupted, polluted areas.
States in a Nation
A state-by-state tour through constitutional issues including state secession, the First Amendment and student speech, and the right to bear arms.
Serious Series
Does the Modern Library's creation of a “common reader” prove the role of marketing in canon formation?
Gender and the Apocalypse
The finalists for this year's Philip K. Dick Award for best paperback science fiction book share concerns about gender and sexuality.
Sunshine of Absolute Neglect
Contributor Jacob Mikanowski reviews Dave Hickey's "Pirates and Farmers."
Paradise Lost; Brief(less) Exposure
A reluctant nudist discovers the intoxicating appeal of nudism.
Childhood in Translation
"Ticket to Childhood," by Nguyen Nhat Anh, uses the voice of a child to comment obliquely on the constraints and hypocrisies of the adult world.
Childhood Revisionism
What happens when your childhood memories don't match your family's official narrative?
The Paradoxical Power of Memory
Two books explain how Shanghai alleyway houses became a cultural symbol for the city's urban life.
Black Girl
Tracy K. Smith, in her memoir "Ordinary Light," urgently insists on the nuances of African-American identity.