Cultural Studies

"Culture is an instrument wielded by professors to manufacture professors." — Simone Weil

Meritocracy and Battle Royale
What online games can tell us about our culture of cutthroat competition and rampant inequality.
Brendan MackieDec 10, 2020
- Cultural Studies
- Politics
Performance Anxiety: How Cold War Men’s Adventure Magazines Shaped Soldiers’ (Mis)Understandings of the Vietnam War
Cheap magazine stories may have fueled the way we fought the Vietnam War.
Nicholas UtzigDec 5, 2020
The Myth of Mestizaje
A celebrated Mexican anthropologist explodes one of his nation’s founding myths.
Ellen Jones, Federico NavarreteNov 27, 2020
The Undying Half-Life of Yiddish
Two books explore the indelible imprint of Yiddish on modern politics and popular culture.
Marc CaplanNov 23, 2020
A Modest Proposal for Building the Future
Alex Pang thinks he should hate Lee Vinsel and Andrew Russell’s book “The Innovation Delusion.” Instead, he wholeheartedly agrees with their main points.
Alex Soojung-Kim PangNov 23, 2020
Hard Times: Martin Hägglund’s “This Life” and the Pomodoro Technique
What makes the Pomodoro Technique difficult to criticize is not simply that we need PT-like scaffolds in the realm of freedom.
Alexa HazelNov 21, 2020
Quantified Life: An Interview with Sun-ha Hong
Emily Watlington interviews Sun-ha Hong about our data fantasies.
Emily WatlingtonOct 26, 2020
A Grim Purgatory: On Greg Jenner’s History of Celebrity
Aida Amoako considers celebrity through Greg Jenner’s history of fame, “Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity from Bronze Age to Silver Screen.”
Aida AmoakoOct 21, 2020
- Cultural Studies
- History
Stanley Crouch, Radical Pragmatist
The death of Stanley Crouch leaves America’s intellectual culture less interesting, less imaginative, and, above all else, less artful.
David MasciotraOct 18, 2020
“American Psycho,” “American Beauty,” “American Pie”: White Male Rage at the Turn of the Millennium
Chelsea Davis puts three films from 2000 in context with the institutionalized support of white, male rage and “aggrieved entitlement.”
Chelsea DavisOct 14, 2020
The Great Unread: On William Deresiewicz’s “The Death of the Artist”
Robert Diab on William Deresiewicz’s new book, “The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech.”
Robert DiabOct 13, 2020
“Retreat” and the Sick World
Madeline Lane-McKinley reviews "Retreat: How the Counterculture Invented Wellness," the recently published book by Matthew Ingram.
Madeline Lane-McKinleyOct 11, 2020
- Cultural Studies
- Politics