All Reviews

• Peter de Bolla’s Human Rights Edifice

  “What de Bolla does not do in The Architecture of Concepts is say very much about the humans who might make use of these “conceptual kinds.” Like a true architect, he seems more interested in the structures being built than in who might build them.”

  Martin WoessnerJun 25, 2014

• Somewhere, A Telephone Rings For Me

  The student protests and “disappearances” of the darkest and most turbulent years in South Korea's struggle toward democratization are the backdrop of I'll Be Right There, recently translated into English.

  Claire KimJun 24, 2014
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  Soccer as Drama/Melodrama

  “This simple articulation of the soccer fan’s crisis is about as deep into the existential mire as Papers in the Wind cares to delve.”

  Tim BenjaminJun 24, 2014

  • Sports

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  Are American Politics Redeemable? Robert Gates, Hillary Clinton and Two Memoirs of Washington, DC

  Two memoirs from Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates should make us wonder if politics are redeemable.

  Matthew Brandon WolfsonJun 24, 2014
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  Pretty and Suffering: The Heroine of Kate Zambreno’s “Green Girl”

  Any discussion of Kate Zambreno’s Green Girl must begin with its protagonist, Ruth. Pretty and suffering, Ruth is a young American abroad in London trembling in the cold air of a world that is one big eyeball directed at her.

  Megan MilksJun 23, 2014
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  Cluster-struck

  Jeremy B. YoderJun 23, 2014

  • Science & Technology

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  Pondering an Improbable Nation

  Indonesia is Elizabeth Pisani’s big, “bad boyfriend.”

  Pallavi AiyarJun 22, 2014
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  Stefan Zweig and the Long Night’s Dawn

  It’s hard to imagine a better book about Stefan Zweig, or one more worthy of so complex and multi-faceted a personage.

  Morten Høi JensenJun 22, 2014

• The Virtues of Uncertainty

  Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz offer a mostly fair and balanced account of the Roberts Court.

  Jeff BleichJun 21, 2014

• How to Say Nothing

  Is it possible to read or write a book in a vacuum, disregarding prizes, public opinion, academic discourse, or artistic precedent? How do we shake off the pervasive self-consciousness of the literary establishment? And do we dare trust its declarations of greatness?

  Esther YiJun 21, 2014
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  Repetition Repetition Repetition

  And so David Peace’s repetition, though it is relentless, gets at the very heart of life as it is lived.

  Molly McArdleJun 20, 2014

• The Trauma of Beauty

  Like anything simple in today’s cluttered world, the poetry of Chloe Honum stands out. It demands to be heard.

  Catherine PondJun 19, 2014

  • Poetry

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  Restoration and Ritual

  “The bitchiest mares make the best mothers,” he says….

  D. J. LeeJun 19, 2014
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  Finding justice for Nazis

  It wasn’t the victors’ top priority to punish the Nazis in the aftermath of World War II.

  Jessica Camille AguirreJun 18, 2014

• Art's Secular Illusions

  “It’s only when art’s power is acknowledged as fully human that its political power can be accurately understood.”

  Ricky D’AmbroseJun 17, 2014

  • Art & Architecture

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  The Ties That Bind: Lisa See’s China Dolls

  Lisa See’s body of work has continued to evolve; it deserves more critical attention.

  Lisa See, Michael MagrasJun 16, 2014