Mammy Dearest Richard Bernstein’s new book about Al Jolson and ‘The Jazz Singer’ offers a thoughtful reconsideration of an unfairly reviled cultural landmark. Graham Daseler 6 Feb 2025 · 14 min read
Tyranny Is Not What It Used to Be In her new book, ‘Autocracy, Inc.,’ historian Anne Applebaum provides us with a distinctive and indispensable guide to one of the great challenges of our time. Brian Stewart 16 Dec 2024 · 8 min read
Oversimplify and Vilify ‘The Message’ is a lopsided, unserious, and frequently embarrassing essay, the real target of which is the very existence of Israel. Mark Horowitz 11 Dec 2024 · 12 min read
The Eerie Beauty of ‘Flow’ Gints Zilbalodis’s beautiful dystopian story feels like the start of a new era in cinema, or at least the invitation to one. Roy Wayne Meredith III 4 Dec 2024 · 5 min read
Sonny Side Up Al Pacino’s personal life has been a bit of a train wreck, but his new memoir leaves no doubt that acting has been the most important thing in his life. Kevin Mims 28 Oct 2024 · 21 min read
Reading Nietzsche in Amsterdam Lale Gül’s autobiographical novel about a young Muslim woman living in the Netherlands has led to death threats and ostracism. But it is a work of admirable intelligence and courage. Brad Strotten 25 Oct 2024 · 7 min read
A Half-Serious Man Boris Johnson got a couple of critical things right, but he never could or would have become a good prime minister. John Lloyd 22 Oct 2024 · 12 min read
Populists Before Trump John Ganz’s lively new book provides a valuable account of the intellectual origins of Trumpism. Leon Hadar 20 Aug 2024 · 9 min read
New York Narcissism Nikkitha Bakshani’s debut novel ‘Ghost Chilli’ is an ideologically confused work that seems to endorse the racial essentialism it purports to satirise. Brad Strotten 19 Aug 2024 · 5 min read
Totems and Taboos A cancelled academic has produced a fine new book about the threat posed by progressive pieties. John Lloyd 6 Aug 2024 · 9 min read
The Man Who Wasn’t There Richard Morton Jack’s comprehensive new biography of Nick Drake offers a glimpse of a brilliant but troubled soul. Matt Hanson 19 Jul 2024 · 10 min read
Sin and Social Science Glenn Loury’s startlingly frank confessional memoir offers a complex portrait of a brilliant scholar and a profoundly flawed man. John Lloyd 24 Jun 2024 · 14 min read
Unbowed but Gravely Wounded Salman Rushdie’s new memoir, ‘Knife,’ describes the assassination attempt its author survived and offers a moving contemplation of mortality. Paul Berman 3 Jun 2024 · 15 min read
What We’re Reading in May Discover new reads hand-picked by our editors. Quillette 18 May 2024 · 6 min read
Misadventures of a Stalinist Stooge Benn Steil’s engrossing new biography of Henry A. Wallace is a timely cautionary tale and a masterpiece of 20th-century American history. Ronald Radosh 25 Apr 2024 · 23 min read
