Books

Arts Remembrance: Poet W. S. Merwin — An Appreciation

March 18, 2019
Posted in ,

W.S. Merwin remained politically as well as artistically motivated all his life, often proclaiming the vital importance of activism.

Book Interview: “Bad Environmentalism” — Laughing at Gloom and Doom

March 17, 2019
Posted in , ,

Mainstream environmentalism is not just serious and sanctimonious, it also happens to be very white and very heteronormative.

Concert Review: Boston Baroque’s “Jephtha” — The Fate of Youth

March 13, 2019
Posted in , ,

Music Director Martin Pearlman had the excellent idea to cut out 6 of the 24 arias to make Jephtha move along, and it paid off.

Book Review: “The Bird King” — Nothing But Enchantment

March 12, 2019
Posted in , ,

The Bird King is an utterly lovely reading experience.

Book Review: “The Wages” — A Powerful Folk Tale About Slavery

March 6, 2019
Posted in , ,

We need stories like The Wages to expose the hypocrisy and incoherence of the institutions that we are supposed to believe are pillars of justice.

Poetry Review: “Peaches Goes It Alone” — A Comic Ode to the Age of Trump

March 6, 2019
Posted in , ,

In the age of truthiness, poet Frederick Seidel’s is a welcome voice.

Book Review: “Where the Crawdads Sing” — Are the Rural Poor Noble Savages?

March 5, 2019
Posted in , ,

Delia Owens suggests that the only forward movement for her outsider-protagonist and “swamp trash” is to become curators of ecological/cultural museums in the very places where they once struggled for an independent life.

Book Interview: Tina Cassidy on the Woman Who Made Women’s Sufferage Happen

March 3, 2019
Posted in , ,

Tina Cassidy talks about her revealing and enjoyable new book about how a woman’s right to vote became enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.

Book Reviews: A Provocative Trio of Volumes on Architecture and Landscape Architecture

March 2, 2019
Posted in , , ,

In very different ways and on very different topics, three recent books assuage notions that architecture/design books are formidable reads.

Author Interview: Writer Clive James — Writing Against the Dying of the Light

March 1, 2019
Posted in , ,

Imagine a combination of Stephen Colbert (the real one, that is) and John Updike.

Recent Posts

Popular Posts

Categories

Archives