Rachel Cusk’s Lonely Experiment
First she abandoned plot in her fiction; now characters must go.
Book Review
American Women Are at a Breaking Point
In the U.S., government support for families seems transgressive. It shouldn’t be.
When the Culture Wars Came for the Theater
A new book sees the reactionary response to a New Deal–era arts initiative as a precursor to today’s cultural divisions.
Stop Trying to Understand Kafka
His parables aren’t supposed to make sense.
To Have or Not Have Children
A new book earnestly wrestles with what it means to bring a person into the world.
The Real ‘Deep State’
Lobbying firms have disguised their influence so well that it’s often barely visible even to savvy Washington insiders.
The Brooklyn Sequel Asks the Most American of Questions About Immigration
In his new novel, Colm Tóibín explores the twinned relationship between Ireland and America.
A Powerful Indictment of the Art World
Hari Kunzru’s new novel deflates the idea of an artistic life as a noble pursuit.
The Wild Blood Dynasty
What a little-known family reveals about the nation’s untamed spirit
A Family Story About Colonialism and Its Aftereffects
Claire Messud tells a complicated and ambivalent tale about her French family’s history in Algeria.