“John Scanlan looks for the future in the dustbins of history.”
Book Review
Posted inEditor's Pick
Mother Sauce
“It proves Johnson’s point that following a recipe is not just an iterative act, but a creative one.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
‘I’ve Lost Everything to the Beast’
“Formed in Los Angeles by refugees fleeing US-backed violence in El Salvador, MS-13 has wreaked havoc in Central America.”
Posted inBooks, Fiction, Story
Masters of Contradiction
Two new books offer fresh perspective on “Otherhood,” that condition in which characters do constant, exhausting battle — for the most part — inside their own heads.
Posted inBooks, Essays & Criticism, Story
Bending the Straight Line of Queer History
Recent novels by Alan Hollinghurst, John Boyne, and Tim Murphy experiment with the idea of progress over time.
Posted inBooks, Essays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
An Education in Doubt
In her memoir ‘Educated,’ Tara Westover studies herself to safety, but books can’t rescue her from the memories of sustained violence.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Memoirs of Addiction and Ambition
Cat Marnell’s new memoir How to Murder Your Life, like Julia Phillips’ famous You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again, is an extreme spectacle of women in capitalism.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Eye of the Beholder
Rorschach tests may have fallen out of favor among psychologists, but maybe their real value is as pieces of art?
Posted inEditor's Pick
Pause! We Can Go Back!
Bill McKibben’s review of the new David Sax book, The Revenge of Analog, is itself a great read on the virtues and affectations newly-hip analog items — Moleskins, Scrabble boards, vinyl records.