David Graeber’s final book uncovers the politics of the high seas.

How Charles Portis’s greatest success overshadowed the rest of his work

The Polish Jewish writer was forced to decorate the home of his Nazi captor with fairytale murals. Where does the art belong?

In an era of hacks and breaches, the game of spy vs. spy has changed.

In her journalism, Malcolm offered devastating portraits of artists, analysts, and frauds. She dreaded receiving the same treatment.

Alice Diop’s courtroom drama is a story of aspiration and cruelty in a racist society.

For nearly a century, Americans have been throwing the term around—without agreeing what that means.

How conservatives made him their icon and distorted his ideas

The rise of “Lean In”–style feminism—and the women who fought for a better alternative

“The Philosophy of Modern Song” was never going to offer a systematic analysis of great music.

He fell from favor after the disaster of the Iraq War. But he was always biding his time.

From Stanford to Silicon Valley, a small town in California spread tech’s gospel of data and control.

The great grand strategist of the Cold War believed he failed in his most important task.

A new biography traces Rhys’s life of self-sabotage, excess, and devotion to art.

The Netflix adaptation of Don DeLillo’s novel makes a thoroughly American spectacle of suffering.

How the consulting firm’s cost-cutting logic devoured America

In David Quammen’s books, intrepid scientists hunt down viruses and avert crises. The story of Covid-19 offers no such resolution.

“All The Beauty And The Bloodshed,” Laura Poitras’s documentary about Nan Goldin, is part portrait of the artist, part exposé.

Sarah Polley’s film rejects the demand the world makes of rape victims: that their stories be polished and flawless

Sanctions were conceived as an alternative to war. But they may have made the world more violent.