https://www.nybooks.com en-US Fri, 05 Jun 2026 14:47:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/06/05/if-i-were-chuck-schumer-joseph-oneill/ With about four months still to go until the midterm elections, the Trump administration remains largely unchecked by Congress in its exercises and abuses of power—recently, the president has attempted to deal himself and his cronies billions in taxpayer dollars in a “settlement” with the IRS, and Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin is floating a plan to remove […]]]> Joseph O’Neill, Daniel Drake Fri, 05 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/06/05/if-i-were-chuck-schumer-joseph-oneill/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/metsochism-metropolitans-new-york-baseball/ A new history of the Mets tries to turn the pain of losing into the struggle of class politics.]]> Andrew Katzenstein Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/metsochism-metropolitans-new-york-baseball/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/think-for-yourself-ai-dan-chiasson/ One of the most dehumanizing effects of AI is the short cuts it offers through the gaps and impasses intrinsic to the act of writing.]]> Dan Chiasson Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/think-for-yourself-ai-dan-chiasson/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/summer-house-sandra-lim/ There was a full shelf of Simenon and a coral sculpture that looked a bit like barbed wire in the family room. I moved the flowered cushions off the bed and put the percolator with the bubbled glass knob out on the counter. There were candles to tint the feelings. You had to do what […]]]> Sandra Lim Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/summer-house-sandra-lim/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/the-immortals-d-nurkse/ When I was old I became close to my death. He slept next to me snoring like a freight train, his bony elbows digging into my ribs; once he left a filament of saliva on my wrist. We ate together, equally voracious: he snatched a strand of clam linguine from my open mouth. Evenings we […]]]> D. Nurkse Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/the-immortals-d-nurkse/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/beirut-and-beyond-huguette-caland/ The idea of home—in a city, in one’s body, in a corpus of visual art—runs through a new show of inventive work by the Lebanese artist Huguette Caland.]]> Nicole Rudick Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/beirut-and-beyond-huguette-caland/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/shades-of-solace-lynette-yiadom-boakye/ In Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s new paintings, mourners find clarity through communion—a departure for an artist known for her masterful portraits of solitude.]]> Lovia Gyarkye Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/shades-of-solace-lynette-yiadom-boakye/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/we-did-our-best-ai-meghan-ogieblyn/ Metaphors of parenting have defined our understanding of AI, but lately the parent-child relationship between creator and machine is becoming reversed.]]> Meghan O’Gieblyn Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/we-did-our-best-ai-meghan-ogieblyn/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/call-my-agent-middlemen-laura-b-mcgrath/ With their blend of taste and market savvy, literary agents have been both invisible and necessary in contemporary American fiction.]]> Michael Gorra Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/call-my-agent-middlemen-laura-b-mcgrath/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/labours-love-lost-british-elections-wheatcroft/ With Keir Starmer’s and his party’s future in doubt after local elections in May, there is a paucity of talent among his rivals.]]> Geoffrey Wheatcroft Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/labours-love-lost-british-elections-wheatcroft/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/visiting-privileges-the-hill-harriet-clark/ Harriet Clark’s debut novel is a fable-like story of growing up in the fallout of a family’s radical dreams.]]> Laura Miller Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/visiting-privileges-the-hill-harriet-clark/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/their-own-private-genesis-what-god-kept-for-himself-grassi/ What If Augustine’s idea of original sin was wrong? Testimony from the Inquisition reveals freethinkers using their sexual experience to dispute the reign of shame and otherwise critique Church doctrine.]]> Erin Maglaque Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/their-own-private-genesis-what-god-kept-for-himself-grassi/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/the-siren-song-of-illness-master-of-contradictions-jensen/ In writing The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann struggled to free himself from his artistic preoccupation with sickness and death.]]> Adam Kirsch Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/the-siren-song-of-illness-master-of-contradictions-jensen/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/image-crazy-a-flood-of-pictures-michael-leja/ In the decades before the Civil War, innovations in printmaking and photography created a “rage for pictures” that transformed American visual culture.]]> David S. Reynolds Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/image-crazy-a-flood-of-pictures-michael-leja/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/paper-trail-stolen-fragments-roberta-mazza/ The investigation into the origin of papyrus fragments that the owners of Hobby Lobby purchased from an Oxford scholar underscores papyrology’s long history of shady deals and ulterior motives.]]> Madeleine Schwartz Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/paper-trail-stolen-fragments-roberta-mazza/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/reassembling-bakhtin-rabelais-and-his-world/ Since Mikhail Bakhtin became widely known in the 1980s, his book on Rabelais has perplexed readers for its seemingly contradictory stance to everything else he wrote.]]> Gary Saul Morson Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/reassembling-bakhtin-rabelais-and-his-world/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/nowhere-to-hide-la-sonnambula-i-puritani-vincenzo-bellini/ The languid melodies of Vincenzo Bellini’s operas look simple and spare on the page, but they are exacting, even merciless for singers.]]> Arya Roshanian Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/nowhere-to-hide-la-sonnambula-i-puritani-vincenzo-bellini/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/unmaking-the-middle-east-what-really-went-wrong/ In two recent books the scholar and commentator Fawaz Gerges asks why the region remains a bastion of authoritarian government, prone to conflict and instability, instead of becoming an economic success story.]]> Andrew Arsan Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/unmaking-the-middle-east-what-really-went-wrong/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/when-the-rents-were-low-new-york-school-poets/ An oral history of the New York School Poets suggests how its successive cohorts have changed over the years.]]> Joe Dunthorne Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/when-the-rents-were-low-new-york-school-poets/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/a-different-country-came-to-them-jewish-and-greek-merchants-salonica/ Until Greece annexed Salonica in 1912, it had long been a city where ‘all peoples’ used to pass. How did its Jews come to be eliminated and their history erased?]]> Magda Teter Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/a-different-country-came-to-them-jewish-and-greek-merchants-salonica/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/dont-call-it-a-rebellion/ To the Editors: In “Indiana’s Indiana Jones” [NYR, May 28],” Nina Siegal calls Crazy Horse “the famous Lakota leader of a rebellion against the US military.” The Lakota were (and are) a sovereign nation. In 1876 Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and other Lakota were not in rebellion but at war with the US for invading […]]]> Ian Frazier Thu, 04 Jun 2026 07:30:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/dont-call-it-a-rebellion/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/whos-paying-for-lunch/ To the Editors: In his review of my May 2025 book Our Dollar, Your Problem [“The Struggle for the Fed,” NYR, February 26], Trevor Jackson takes little interest in engaging with the book’s core thesis that the absolute dominance of the US dollar is being undermined by weaponization of US economic power against enemies and […]]]> Kenneth Rogoff Thu, 04 Jun 2026 07:30:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/whos-paying-for-lunch/ https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/06/03/confessions-of-a-fair-weather-knicks-fan/ Game Zero • Game 1 Game 1: He Did and We Did “And now, here is the practical application I promised you: Take a stack of paper and write. Write everything that goes through your mind for three consecutive days with neither hesitation nor hypocrisy. Write down what you think of yourself, what you think […]]]> Jonathan Lethem Wed, 03 Jun 2026 09:29:23 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/06/03/confessions-of-a-fair-weather-knicks-fan/ https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/06/02/minority-opinion-conversation-on-supreme-court/ New York Review contributors David Cole, Sherrilyn Ifill, and Pamela Karlan come together for a wide-ranging conversation on the consequences of the Supreme Court’s death blow to the Voting Rights Act. This conversation originally aired on June 1, 2026.]]> David Cole, Sherrilyn Ifill, Pamela Karlan Tue, 02 Jun 2026 13:34:51 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/06/02/minority-opinion-conversation-on-supreme-court/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/gullivers-warning-fintan-otoole/ Like Gulliver in Lilliput, “greatness” in the political realm depends on the existence of a group deemed puny or weak. ]]> Fintan O’Toole Tue, 02 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/25/gullivers-warning-fintan-otoole/ https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/31/to-break-the-siege-gaza-flotilla/ When a ship sends out a Mayday signal, nearby vessels have a duty to come to its aid. This is a core tenet of maritime law. But on Monday, May 18, when a group of about fifty boats in international waters started radioing out their distress calls, nobody responded. Cyprus, the country nearest and thus […]]]> Piper French Sun, 31 May 2026 07:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/31/to-break-the-siege-gaza-flotilla/ https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/28/subverting-the-nude-joan-semmel/ In 1970, after living abroad for over seven years, the New York painter Joan Semmel returned to the city, rented a loft in Soho, and, within months, substantially remade herself as an artist. It was as if she had picked up a different passport on her flight home. As an abstract expressionist in the 1950s […]]]> Regina Marler Thu, 28 May 2026 17:28:29 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/28/subverting-the-nude-joan-semmel/ https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/27/lili-anolik-on-eve-babitz-her-legacy-and-unsent-letters/ In this episode of Private Life, Lili Anolik joins Jarrett Earnest for a conversation about the life and legacy of Eve Babitz, in honor of the publication of New York Review Books’s Too L.A.: Letters Never Sent (But Some Were) (2026), a collection of Babitz’s correspondence. Click the “Subscribe” link in the player above to follow this podcast […]]]> Lili Anolik, Jarrett Earnest Wed, 27 May 2026 19:48:03 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/27/lili-anolik-on-eve-babitz-her-legacy-and-unsent-letters/ https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/24/the-education-of-pope-leo-xiv/ Father Bob Prevost, today known to the world as Pope Leo XIV, says that when he first arrived in Peru as an Augustinian missionary in 1985, thirty years old and three years a priest, he was naïve. “It was all very natural to me,” he recently told his biographer Elise Ann Allen, to see the […]]]> Greg Grandin Sun, 24 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/24/the-education-of-pope-leo-xiv/ https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/23/future-abortion-rights-amy-littlefield/ In March the NYR Online published Amy Littlefield’s sweeping overview of the shifts in abortion access since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization effectively outlawed the procedure in more than a dozen states. Many of these changes have been driven by the expansion of telehealth services that dispense Mifepristone and […]]]> Amy Littlefield, Nora Caplan-Bricker Sat, 23 May 2026 10:30:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/23/future-abortion-rights-amy-littlefield/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/voices-in-rome-marianne-boruch/ in rain. A blur, like another language isa mix of colorthat runs and spills. I do not look downbut across into tops of giant treeswhere birds come backyear after year with straw in their beaks. Is that permission, a premonition?To talk so pointedlyin rain’s bedraggled and dogged is to remember what it isto walk soaked […]]]> Marianne Boruch Thu, 21 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/voices-in-rome-marianne-boruch/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/damming-the-big-ocean-chokepoints-edward-fishman/ Edward Fishman's Chokepoints explains how the US came to rely on its economic arsenal, but stops short of a complete assessment of the unreliable tactic and its often devastating consequences.]]> Quinn Slobodian Thu, 21 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/damming-the-big-ocean-chokepoints-edward-fishman/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/art-for-our-sakes-zadie-smith/ I wasn’t going to come today. Partly because the act of coming here—to America, as a non-American—is now a fraught, stressful, and even dangerous proposition for millions. Also: What’s the point? That’s what an old friend, another writer, asked me. By this he meant: Why talk about arts and letters when people are being gunned […]]]> Zadie Smith Thu, 21 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/art-for-our-sakes-zadie-smith/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/on-the-road-i-deliver-parcels-in-beijing-hu-anyan/ Hu Anyan’s memoir about delivering packages in Beijing is disarmingly direct about the human cost of modern logistics.]]> Rumaan Alam Thu, 21 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/on-the-road-i-deliver-parcels-in-beijing-hu-anyan/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/hitlers-end-long-death-of-adolf-hitler-sharples/ After the fall of Berlin the Soviets concealed their discovery of Hitler’s remains, leaving the Western Allies scrambling for evidence that he was dead.]]> Neal Ascherson Thu, 21 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/hitlers-end-long-death-of-adolf-hitler-sharples/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/not-in-your-genome-the-social-genome-conley/ Generations of “sociobiologists” have tried and failed to argue that genetic analysis offers the key to understanding social inequality. A new book fares no better.]]> M.W. Feldman, Jessica Riskin Thu, 21 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/not-in-your-genome-the-social-genome-conley/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/dreams-of-our-nation-american-visions-ayers-great-disorder-slotkin/ Historians must not cede the study of how Americans understand their cacophonous nation to advocates of “patriotic” history.]]> David W. Blight Thu, 21 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/dreams-of-our-nation-american-visions-ayers-great-disorder-slotkin/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/tunnel-of-love-tristan-und-isolde-metropolitan-opera/ The Met’s new Tristan und Isolde was a vocal triumph for Lise Davidsen and Michael Spyres, but Yuval Sharon’s staging only fitfully captured the essence of Wagner’s masterpiece.]]> Martin Filler Thu, 21 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/tunnel-of-love-tristan-und-isolde-metropolitan-opera/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/the-other-in-the-mirror-mathias-enard/ In Mathias Énard’s many novels, encounters between cultures can lead to transformation—and peril.]]> Christopher Byrd Thu, 21 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/the-other-in-the-mirror-mathias-enard/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/our-climates-wild-card-into-the-clear-blue-sky/ Methane's part in the climate crisis remains largely overlooked, even though it is responsible for 30 percent of all global warming to date, and despite the fact that it's still possible to purge it from our skies.]]> Jonathan Mingle Thu, 21 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/our-climates-wild-card-into-the-clear-blue-sky/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/enter-man-helen-of-nowhere-makenna-goodman/ Makenna Goodman’s new novel, Helen of Nowhere, offers up an exhilarating myth for men who need to be shuffled offstage.]]> Joanna Biggs Thu, 21 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/enter-man-helen-of-nowhere-makenna-goodman/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/the-fairy-tale-hour-paul-klee-other-possible-worlds/ An exhibition of Paul Klee’s late works focuses on his depictions of the atmosphere of violence and intimidation in Germany after the Nazis came to power.]]> Sanford Schwartz Thu, 21 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/the-fairy-tale-hour-paul-klee-other-possible-worlds/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/mighty-real-tracey-emin-a-second-life/ Tracey Emin’s art has often tackled taboo subjects, including rape, abortion, and sexual abuse, but her multifarious works are always bracingly antitherapeutic.]]> Clair Wills Thu, 21 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/mighty-real-tracey-emin-a-second-life/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/navalnys-unfinished-work-patriot-a-memoir/ In his posthumous memoir, Alexei Navalny’s utopian vision of “the Beautiful Russia of the Future” remains strangely detached from history.]]> Benjamin Nathans Thu, 21 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/navalnys-unfinished-work-patriot-a-memoir/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/rare-or-not/ To the Editors: Catherine Nicholson has written a wonderful account of Beloved Son Felix [“A Most Particular Life,” NYR, March 26], evidently a wonderful book, which I look forward to reading in full. But as a kind of autobiography it is not quite such a rare undertaking in the Renaissance as she implies. There is […]]]> David Van Edwards, Catherine Nicholson Thu, 21 May 2026 07:30:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/rare-or-not/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/was-chiang-a-fascist/ To the Editors: Orville Schell’s whitewashing of Chiang Kai-shek, as though he was merely a well-meaning patriot whose character flaws “were sadly amplified by chaotic circumstances largely beyond his control” [“China’s Leader Manqué,” NYR, March 26], demands a response. Lloyd Eastman is by no means the only serious historian who has accused Chiang of fascism. […]]]> Paul R. Goldin, Orville Schell Thu, 21 May 2026 07:30:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/was-chiang-a-fascist/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/restoring-notre-dame/ To the Editors: David A. Bell in his review of the exhibition “Viollet-le-Duc: Drawing Worlds” at the Bard Graduate Center [NYR, April 23] writes, “The amazingly rapid reconstruction project [of Notre-Dame, Paris] came to a conclusion in December 2024.” However, walking around the building reveals a vast and active construction site, the cathedral bristling with […]]]> Michael T. Davis, David A. Bell Thu, 21 May 2026 07:30:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/restoring-notre-dame/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/call-for-documents/ For a study of the French mystic-philosopher-militant Simone Weil (1909–1943) and the response to her work, I would appreciate hearing from anyone who might offer new documentation. Of particular value are unpublished recollections, memos, and other records addressing the appreciation of her by Elizabeth Hardwick and other editors at The New York Review. Benjamin Braude […]]]> Benjamin Braude Thu, 21 May 2026 07:30:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/call-for-documents/ https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/20/trump-v-trump-anti-weaponization-fund/ Call it “the art of the self-deal.” You sue yourself, announce a hasty “settlement” when the judge questions whether you are engaged in collusion (with yourself), and direct the creation of a fund consisting of nearly $1.8 billion to be doled out to your allies by a hand-selected commission—all without judicial or congressional approval. Acting […]]]> David Cole Wed, 20 May 2026 12:02:02 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/20/trump-v-trump-anti-weaponization-fund/ https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/20/from-the-archive-radiant-angry-caravaggio/ In the May 27, 2010, issue of The New York Review of Books, Ingrid D. Rowland wrote “Radiant, Angry Caravaggio,” a look at the tempestuous life and brilliant art of the painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. For this episode of Private Life, Rowland’s essay is read by the artist Lisa Yuskavage. Click the “Subscribe” link in the player above […]]]> Ingrid D. Rowland, Lisa Yuskavage Wed, 20 May 2026 09:36:48 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/20/from-the-archive-radiant-angry-caravaggio/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/human-stamps-emily-kraus/ The young artist Emily Kraus is preoccupied with the question of whether machines can be surrogates for an artist’s unconscious.]]> Walker Mimms Wed, 20 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/human-stamps-emily-kraus/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/the-best-philosophers-magdalena-suarez-frimkess/ Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, who works with ceramics, has spent decades tapping unlikely sources for wisdom.]]> Carolina A. Miranda Wed, 20 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/the-best-philosophers-magdalena-suarez-frimkess/ https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/19/bollores-way-grasset-french-publishing/ Even in a country that has made a pastime of its declamatory public letters, this one seems to stand out. It’s not every day that a list of signatories includes such unlikely comrades as Virginie Despentes—the punk feminist author of King Kong Theory, the Vernon Subutex series and, most recently, Dear Dick Head—and Bernard-Henri Lévy, […]]]> Harrison Stetler Tue, 19 May 2026 12:42:28 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/19/bollores-way-grasset-french-publishing/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/made-in-the-usa-in-the-arena-pete-hegseth/ Pete Hegseth is the product of an essentially American ethos—which means we have no choice but to ask what to do with him, and what to do with ourselves.]]> Suzy Hansen Tue, 19 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/06/11/made-in-the-usa-in-the-arena-pete-hegseth/ https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/16/between-devil-deep-blue-sea-christopher-de-bellaigue/ As President Trump’s erratic negotiations with Iran drag on and oil prices continue to rise, the United States’ ostensible ethical justification for the war—regime change—has largely disappeared from mainstream coverage. In the Review’s May 28 issue, Christopher de Bellaigue argues that the US and Israel’s relentless bombing campaign has mostly succeeded in strengthening the Islamic […]]]> Christopher de Bellaigue, Daniel Drake Sat, 16 May 2026 10:30:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/16/between-devil-deep-blue-sea-christopher-de-bellaigue/ https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/16/opera-in-ragged-times-joplin-treemonisha/ During the first hundred days of Donald Trump’s second presidency, while he was devastating American society with mass deportations and shredding the global economic order with arbitrary tariffs, he also found the time to make himself chairman of the board of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.—the first time a president […]]]> Larry Wolff Sat, 16 May 2026 10:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/16/opera-in-ragged-times-joplin-treemonisha/ https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/14/empires-of-flow-control-hormuz/ In September 1507 the Portuguese conquistador Afonso de Albuquerque sailed his small fleet to a point off the coast of Hormuz Island, in the narrow bottleneck that provides access to the Persian Gulf. Negotiations between the Portuguese and the independent Kingdom of Hormuz broke down quickly, and the small tributary state of Persia sent hundreds […]]]> Nicholas Mulder Thu, 14 May 2026 07:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/14/empires-of-flow-control-hormuz/ https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/13/ingrid-d-rowland-on-art-history-raphael-and-disegno/ In this episode of Private Life, the art historian Ingrid D. Rowland joins Jarrett Earnest for an in-depth discussion about art history and disegno, an Italian word for “design” that was also a Renaissance-era concept describing some artists’ ability simultaneously to draw and to conceive of a grander scheme in their work. Rowland also talks about the lives […]]]> Ingrid D. Rowland, Jarrett Earnest Wed, 13 May 2026 13:22:49 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/13/ingrid-d-rowland-on-art-history-raphael-and-disegno/ https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/12/the-work-of-feeling-morrison-love/ In Love, two women fight until they understand their fighting as a pretense to touch. The fighting is a kind of intimacy, an annual rite of slapping, biting, and hair-pulling that eventually gives way to a “realization that the fights did nothing other than allow them to hold each other.” The epiphany that they are […]]]> Raven Leilani Tue, 12 May 2026 10:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/12/the-work-of-feeling-morrison-love/ https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/09/i-couldnt-have-done-it-without-you-frances-wilson/ “Most memoirists Botox out their own imperfections, but celebrity ghostwriters tend to do the full facelift.”]]> Frances Wilson, Chandler Fritz Sat, 09 May 2026 10:30:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/05/09/i-couldnt-have-done-it-without-you-frances-wilson/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/mommie-dearest-kids-wait-till-you-hear-this-liza-minnelli/ In Liza Minnelli’s riveting memoir, the ghost of Judy Garland is felt on every page.]]> Frances Wilson Thu, 07 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/mommie-dearest-kids-wait-till-you-hear-this-liza-minnelli/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/facing-the-past-transcription-ben-lerner/ Ben Lerner’s dazzling new novel, Transcription, plays variations on the conflicts and bonds that are felt among three generations.]]> Christopher Tayler Thu, 07 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/facing-the-past-transcription-ben-lerner/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/counting-heads-jean-paul-marat/ Jean-Paul Marat’s assassination transformed the reviled mouthpiece of revolutionary bloodthirstiness into the revered martyr of the people’s cause.]]> Lynn Hunt Thu, 07 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/counting-heads-jean-paul-marat/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/dont-call-it-entertainment-everything-is-now-j-hoberman/ In Everthing Is Now, J. Hoberman chronicles a radical avant-garde's attempts to jostle New York City out of its postwar complacency and moral retrenchment.]]> Prudence Peiffer Thu, 07 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/dont-call-it-entertainment-everything-is-now-j-hoberman/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/the-peepers-dan-chiasson/ Easter morning Hungry to gainon quiet and nightand cold and rain we pixelatewe complicateour veins are antifreeze our throats are bubblegumour forestssocialist no liege, no CEOwe give awayour loamy, pitchy songs they say what they meanstay, staythe winter’s over we made them from decaythe understoryordered us some food thanks understorythanks salamandersthanks paramecia God set the […]]]> Dan Chiasson Thu, 07 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/the-peepers-dan-chiasson/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/the-sage-of-washington-walter-lippmann/ Walter Lippmann was the most influential political commentator of his generation, but behind his preternatural confidence was a far more complicated and unsettled character.]]> Samuel Earle Thu, 07 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/the-sage-of-washington-walter-lippmann/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/indianas-indiana-jones-the-grave-robber-carpenter/ FBI agents who raided an Indiana farm in 2014 were astonished to find some 42,000 artifacts and bones looted by an amateur archaeologist.]]> Nina Siegal Thu, 07 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/indianas-indiana-jones-the-grave-robber-carpenter/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/living-emily-berry/ It was hard for us, the way you diedevery day, slowly and then all at once,just as such things are said to happen.Spring came, so soon it almost seemedyou could’ve waited, but I know, I know,you couldn’t wait. My head was full of namesof flowers, and I kept picking stonesout of the earth as if […]]]> Emily Berry Thu, 07 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/living-emily-berry/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/against-nostalgia-kathleen-jamie-peter-davidson/ In their poems and essays, Kathleen Jamie and Peter Davidson transcend Scottish sentimentalism and find new points of entry into their shared past.]]> David Wheatley Thu, 07 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/against-nostalgia-kathleen-jamie-peter-davidson/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/what-happened-in-vegas-john-gregory-dunne/ An impulsive trip to America’s “idiot Disneyland” thrust John Gregory Dunne among characters who, like him, sought distraction from their private miseries.]]> Charlie Lee Thu, 07 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/what-happened-in-vegas-john-gregory-dunne/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/a-dream-of-a-socialist-commonwealth-the-jewish-bund/ Molly Crabapple’s history of the Bund recovers an egalitarian, secular, cosmopolitan vision of Jewish identity and political life that was lost in the horrors of the twentieth century.]]> Adam Hochschild Thu, 07 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/a-dream-of-a-socialist-commonwealth-the-jewish-bund/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/scarred-in-hong-kong-city-like-water-dorothy-tse/ Recent fiction by Hong Kong writers explores life in a society traumatized by ever-tightening Chinese national security laws that suppress political discussion and artistic freedom. ]]> Louisa Lim Thu, 07 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/scarred-in-hong-kong-city-like-water-dorothy-tse/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/pop-pleasure-freedom-the-secret-public-jon-savage/ In his decades of writing about pop music, Jon Savage came to understand its liberatory power.]]> Jarrett Earnest Thu, 07 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/pop-pleasure-freedom-the-secret-public-jon-savage/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/whither-the-nerd-bully-bill-gates/ Bill Gates was the monopolistic father figure who Silicon Valley’s young founders rebelled against—and, in so rebelling, became.]]> Ben Tarnoff Thu, 07 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/05/28/whither-the-nerd-bully-bill-gates/