Books

Book and Jazz Album Review: Henry Threadgill Explains It All For You

July 5, 2023
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The Pulitzer Prize-winning composer eludes easy categorization, but Henry Threadgill’s new memoir — and his latest recording — take a step in defining his singular artistic personality.

Book Review: “Halcyon” — Plodding Speculative History

July 4, 2023
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How could such a multitalented guy go so wrong with such a clever concept? It wasn’t easy.

Book Review: Daphne Kalotay’s “The Archivists” — Short Studies in Pervasive Loneliness

July 3, 2023
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Daphne Kalotay’s fresh eye for the outside world is paired with a sympathy for the inner world of her protagonists, which can feel helplessly pained at times.

Author Interview: Stephen Vladeck on the Troubling Rise of the Shadow Docket at the Supreme Court

July 3, 2023
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A conversation with author Stephen Vladeck who has been called out publicly by Justice Samuel Alito for his criticism of the Supreme Court’s abuse of the shadow docket.

Book Review: “Poverty, by America” — Ignoring the Real Problem

June 30, 2023
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Conservatives will sneer at Poverty, by America, for all the usual reasons. But serious leftists will too — not because of the facts it presents, but because of the platitudes that accompany them.

Book Review: “Open Throat” — Animal Talk

June 28, 2023
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It’s really a feat — to meld the imaginary with the truth, but Open Throat does it just smashingly.

Author Interview: Historian Ibram X. Kendi on Two New Versions of “Stamped From the Beginning”

June 22, 2023
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This month has seen the publication of two new versions of Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped From the Beginning: a revised edition, which is slated for adaptation by Netflix, and a graphic history, which was illustrated by Joel Christian Gill.

Book Review: “Betye Saar: Heart of a Wanderer” — Sort of a Shaman

June 22, 2023
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Betye Saar’s assemblages and travel sketchbooks are rich in references and symbols; they are mysterious and introspective, more spiritual than political.

Book Review: “My Last Innocent Year” — Too Unreliable?

June 21, 2023
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An unreliable narrator is a tough row to hoe for a fiction writer, but a narrator who doesn’t quite know what to think — that’s even harder ground to plow.

Book Review: “Happy Forever” — An Entertaining Oral History of the Turtles and the World of Pop Music

June 18, 2023
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This offbeat bio of Turtles vocalist, songwriter, and clown prince Mark Volman has been assembled from amusing, insightful, horrifying, honest, and candidly told stories from friends, family, and even some foes.

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