Nonfiction

"There is nothing more poetic and terrible than the skyscrapers' battle with the heavens that cover them." — Federico García Lorca

The Place You Now Live: On Lauren Markham’s “A Map of Future Ruins”
Stephanie Elizondo Griest reviews Lauren Markham’s “A Map of Future Ruins: On Borders and Belonging.”
Stephanie Elizondo GriestFeb 23, 2024
Timothy Leary Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things: On Benjamin Breen’s “Tripping on Utopia”
Timothy Leary sucked the revolutionary potential out of psychedelic science, concludes Kim Adams after reading Benjamin Breen’s “Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science.”
Kim AdamsFeb 21, 2024
Prove You’re Not a Robot: On Karel Čapek’s “R.U.R.”
Jonathan Bolton uses the occasion of a new edition and translation of Karel Čapek’s play “R.U.R.,” first published in Prague in 1920, to revisit the origins of the word “robot,” and explore the play’s uncannily prescient vision of artificial life.
Jonathan BoltonFeb 20, 2024
Questions of Travel: On Kurt Caswell’s “Iceland Summer”
James Perrin Warren reviews Kurt Caswell’s “Iceland Summer: Travels Along the Ring Road.”
James Perrin WarrenFeb 18, 2024
Subversion of Resolution: On Eileen Vorbach Collins’s “Love in the Archives”
Melissa M. Monroe reviews Eileen Vorbach Collins’s “Love in the Archives: A Patchwork of True Stories About Suicide Loss.”
Melissa M. MonroeFeb 13, 2024
- Memoir & Essay
- Nonfiction
Among the Rose Petals, Queer Possibility: On Sasha Velour’s “The Big Reveal”
Christian Lewis reviews Sasha Velour’s “The Big Reveal: An Illustrated Manifesto of Drag.”
Christian LewisFeb 12, 2024
Dubious Dam: A Conversation with Erika Marie Bsumek
Tom Zoellner talks to Erika Marie Bsumek about one of the worst boondoggles in the Southwest, which she explores in her recent book “The Foundations of Glen Canyon Dam: Infrastructures of Dispossession on the Colorado Plateau.”
Tom ZoellnerFeb 11, 2024
- History
- Nonfiction
The Monstrosity of Feminist Art: A Conversation with Lauren Elkin
Tia Glista interviews Lauren Elkin about her new book “Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art.”
Tia GlistaFeb 10, 2024
- Literary Criticism
- Nonfiction
A Beautiful, Diverse Country: On Artem Chapeye’s “The Ukraine”
Kate Tsurkan reviews Artem Chapeye’s “The Ukraine.”
Kate TsurkanFeb 8, 2024
- Nonfiction
Blazing Old Worlds: On Francesca Peacock’s “Pure Wit”
Thomas Elrod reviews Francesca Peacock’s “Pure Wit: The Revolutionary Life of Margaret Cavendish.”
Thomas ElrodFeb 5, 2024
Noise from Signal: On Matthew Coller’s “Football Is a Numbers Game”
Leif Weatherby reviews Matthew Coller’s “Football Is a Numbers Game: Pro Football Focus and How a Data-Driven Approach Shook Up the Sport.”
Leif WeatherbyFeb 4, 2024
- Nonfiction
- Sports
A Memoryless Hong Kong: On Shibani Mahtani and Timothy McLaughlin’s “Among the Braves” and Brian Kern’s “Liberate Hong Kong”
Joshua Yang reviews two new books on Hong Kong protests—Shibani Mahtani and Timothy McLaughlin’s “Among the Braves: Hope, Struggle, and Exile in the Battle for Hong Kong and the Future of Global Democracy” and Brian Kern’s “Liberate Hong Kong: Stories from the Freedom Struggle.”
Joshua YangFeb 4, 2024
- Nonfiction
- Politics