https://www.nybooks.com/online/ Online comment from the writers of The New York Review of Books en-US Sun, 05 Apr 2026 12:20:10 -0400 “Difficile est saturam non scribere: if you’re paying attention to present conditions, it’s difficult not to write satire,” writes Aaron Matz, quoting the Roman poet Juvenal, in a review of Dan Sperrin’s State of Ridicule from our March 26, 2026, issue. Unfortunately, literary political satire has been in a long period of decline—and not just because it has been supplanted […]]]> Aaron Matz, Willa Glickman Sat, 04 Apr 2026 10:30:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/04/04/novels-of-future-aaron-matz/ In this episode of Private Life, the writer, translator, and editor Gini Alhadeff reads excerpts from Mark Polizzotti’s recent translation, for NYRB Classics, of André Breton’s 1928 surrealist novel, Nadja. Blending autobiography and fiction, this abidingly strange book recounts, analyzes, and remembers Breton’s brief love affair with the eponymous young woman in 1920s Paris. Click the […]]]> André Breton, Gini Alhadeff Wed, 01 Apr 2026 16:39:49 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/04/01/gini-alhadeff-reads-nadja/ On Sunday, March 22, three weeks into the US–Israeli war in Iran, Donald Trump received an unlikely pledge of support. The previous Friday he had taken to Truth Social to lambast his fellow NATO members, calling them “COWARDS” for refusing to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively blocked with threats […]]]> Caitlin L. Chandler Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:47:25 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/31/timid-europe-iran-war/ The Finnish artist Helene Schjerfbeck told her models to stay silent and look away from her while she worked. She would not tolerate conversation or a returned gaze. As a result her paintings show the many ways art can present a person indirectly: in profile, eyes closed, staring off in the distance or looking askance, […]]]> Bridget Alsdorf Sun, 29 Mar 2026 08:03:02 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/29/tell-me-your-worst-helene-schjerfbeck/ Around the year 1400 a young woman in Central Europe was given a saddle made of bone, likely for her wedding day. As she rode from her parents’ home to that of her new husband, she sat upon carved scenes of lovers embracing and men banging drums or clutching their belts. In France, at about […]]]> Lauren Kane Sat, 28 Mar 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/28/indecorous-decorations-medieval-sexuality/ Soon after the outbreak of war in Iran, as America was blitzing the country from a distance with a fusillade of bombs and missiles, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth exulted that we were “punching them while they’re down.” In those early days a US submarine sunk an Iranian naval vessel thousands of miles from the […]]]> Bill McKibben Fri, 27 Mar 2026 13:38:41 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/27/syphoning-morale-hegseth-stars-and-stripes/ In this episode of Private Life, Jarrett Earnest is joined by Mark Polizzotti to discuss André Breton’s surrealist novel, Nadja, originally published in 1928 and translated into English by Polizzotti for NYRB Classics in 2025. Click the “Subscribe” link in the player above to follow this podcast on your favorite listening platform. Polizzotti gives insight into the […]]]> Mark Polizzotti, Jarrett Earnest Wed, 25 Mar 2026 18:41:47 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/25/mark-polizzotti-on-andre-breton-translation-and-surrealism/ Since Donald Trump’s improbable first win in 2016, pundits have passed countless hours trying to understand how his rise, and the populist movement that powered it, have changed American conservatism. If Ronald Reagan’s Republican Party was, famously, a three-legged stool consisting of social traditionalists, free-market champions, and foreign interventionists, Trump’s MAGA coalition has swelled its […]]]> Osita Nwanevu, Suzanne Schneider Wed, 25 Mar 2026 07:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/25/neocons-revenge-trump-maga-coalition/ Amid the destruction of the US–Israeli war against Iran, much of the world’s attention has fixed on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes. In normal times ships traversing the Strait—which runs between Oman and the United Arab Emirates on one […]]]> Adam Hanieh Mon, 23 Mar 2026 11:17:23 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/23/bottling-the-world-economy-hormuz-gulf/ On Friday, March 13, nearly two weeks into the Lebanese front of “Operation Roaring Lion,” Israeli forces bombed Burj Qalaouiyah, a village in the country’s south. The strike destroyed a health care center, killing twelve doctors, paramedics, nurses, and patients; The New York Times reported that “only one severely injured worker survived.” Among the victims, […]]]> Neve Gordon Sun, 22 Mar 2026 10:52:07 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/22/the-gaza-doctrine-iran-lebanon/ What do Italian astronomers, cloistered nuns, levitating saints, and the “sexy dreams” of desert church fathers have in common? In the pages of the Review, they’re all the domain of the critic and scholar Erin Maglaque. Maglaque is a student of archival texts, often written by women, that challenge conventional secular and religious interpretations of […]]]> Erin Maglaque, Chandler Fritz Sat, 21 Mar 2026 10:30:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/21/spirit-in-the-sky-erin-maglaque/ Since the beginning of the year, my phone has been a window through which I watch the Rafah crossing from my bedroom in Paris three thousand kilometers away. Every piece of news about it awakes something in me that neither the cold of this city nor the long distance can quiet. After nine months in […]]]> Doha Kahlout, Katharine Halls Fri, 20 Mar 2026 11:11:36 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/20/elegy-for-rafah/ Sue Halpern hosts the attorney and voting rights expert Marc Elias for a wide-ranging conversation on threats to American voting rights, including gerrymandering, ballot seizures, and the SAVE Act. This conversation originally aired on March 12, 2026.]]> Marc Elias, Sue Halpern Thu, 19 Mar 2026 13:28:08 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/19/rigging-the-vote-trumps-threats-to-elections/ Episode 6 of Private Life]]> Richard Hell Wed, 18 Mar 2026 17:54:06 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/18/richard-hell-reads-from-godlike/ Since Monday, March 2, Israel’s armed forces have launched daily airstrikes on Lebanon. Begun after Hezbollah fired a small volley of rockets into Israel in response to the killing of Ali Khamenei (causing no casualties), the Israeli strikes have so far killed more than nine hundred people and displaced more than a million out of […]]]> Loubna El Amine Wed, 18 Mar 2026 16:31:27 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/18/lebanons-negations/ A dispatch from the Art Editor]]> Leanne Shapton Wed, 18 Mar 2026 16:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/18/charade-night-leanne-shapton/ “The first time I experienced life on the West Bank, staying over in Palestinian homes, a whole new horizon opened up for me. I entered into that life, its personal friendships, its language, its ravishing landscapes, and its evident suffering. All of it felt meaningful and real.”]]> David Shulman, Dahlia Krutkovich Sat, 14 Mar 2026 10:30:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/14/like-a-gossamer-sheet-david-shulman/ Rain I One balmy winter day in 1991, during the first Gulf War, I was sitting by the window in my classroom watching the clear blue sky above Ahvaz, the city in Iran’s southwest where I grew up. The teacher was working through a physics problem on the blackboard when, on the horizon, I noticed […]]]> Amir Ahmadi Arian Sat, 14 Mar 2026 09:08:20 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/14/of-fire-and-rain-iran-war/ Since the outbreak of the current war between Israel and Iran—much like during the previous one last summer—I have been sought after for interviews by foreign media. An Iranian-born pro-Palestinian Israeli political activist is, it seems, a highly desirable commodity. Some want me to explain the Israeli position, others the Iranian one, still others to […]]]> Orly Noy Sat, 14 Mar 2026 08:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/14/longing-for-my-tehran-iran-war/ Brianna knew her husband would claim the pregnancy was an act of God. Their marriage was falling apart. She was fed up with his infidelity and with managing their kids and home on her own. The couple had recently separated when she realized her period was late. Deciding to get the abortion was easy. Beyond […]]]> Amy Littlefield Fri, 13 Mar 2026 13:44:40 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/13/since-dobbs-medication-abortion-access/ In this episode of Private Life, Richard Hell joins Jarrett Earnest to discuss his novel Godlike (newly reissued by NYRB Classics), his creative process, the love of poetry, and the stories behind his work.   Click the “Subscribe” link in the player above to follow this podcast on your favorite listening platform. Richard Hell is a writer and […]]]> Richard Hell, Jarrett Earnest Wed, 11 Mar 2026 14:30:16 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/11/richard-hell-on-godlike-and-poetry-as-a-way-of-life/ In January 1960 Brussels hosted a “Round Table” conference of Congolese and European leaders to negotiate the future of the Belgian Congo. Anticolonial resistance had surged across Africa over the previous decade; in the Congo the antagonism had reached its peak in 1959 after colonial authorities killed dozens—possibly hundreds—of protesters in the infamous Léopoldville riots. […]]]> David Beal Wed, 11 Mar 2026 10:00:00 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/11/the-docteur-is-in-nico-congolese-rumba/ Partway through his second inaugural address on January 20, Donald Trump started listing the executive orders he planned to sign that day. Among others, he said he would “declare a national emergency at our southern border,” designate “cartels as foreign terrorist organizations,” put an end to the Green New Deal, start a full “overhaul of […]]]> Aryeh Neier Tue, 10 Mar 2026 12:58:45 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/10/the-new-war-on-speech-trump/ On February 28 Israeli warplanes assassinated Ali Khamenei, Iran’s leader, by dropping thirty bombs on his compound in Tehran. It was the opening salvo of the US and Israel’s joint war of choice. Within a day missile attacks and aircraft sorties had done grave damage across the country: in southern Iran airstrikes hit a girls […]]]> Arang Keshavarzian Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:06:31 -0400 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/08/iran-transformed/ “I’m struck by ballet’s ability to create something extraordinarily beautiful out of something so difficult and so taxing on the brain and body.”]]> Marina Harss, Lauren Kane Sat, 07 Mar 2026 10:30:00 -0500 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/03/07/en-pointe-marina-harss/