Still Experiencing the Reverberations: On Kevin Boyle's "The Shattering" & Michael Schumacher's "The Contest"
Any nonfiction writer who undertakes to describe the past always face a preliminary methodological question: How to slice the pie.
What America Is: On Michael C. Steiner's "Horace M. Kallen in the Heartland"
The debate over nationalism, multiculturalism, and how diversity affects national identity isn’t new.
The Infrastructure of Opportunity: On Fiona Hill's "There Is Nothing for You Here"
In the Fall of 2019, the nation watched President Trump being tried by the House of Representatives in the first of two impeachments.
The Absolute Necessity of Direct Action: On Sarah Schulman's "Let the Record Show"
As politicians across the country willfully let people succumb to a deadly virus and do their best to rig the political system, this might be a good time to think about the nature of direct political action.
The American Right to Riot: On Elizabeth Hinton's "America on Fire"
“Rioting is not protesting,” then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden stated in August 2020.
Where We've Been: On Louis Menand's "The Free World"
Louis Menand has written a sprawling, fact-filled history of American art, culture, and ideas between the end of World War II in 1945 and 1965, the year the war in Vietnam escalated and American culture began to unravel at the seams.
