Commentary
What makes this book so necessary is that these are writers willing to state realities that members of both parties prefer to keep under the rug.
George V. Higgins created a style that was at first revelatory, then degenerated into a tic at the end of his career.
I confess that I was one of those schmucks who tried (and failed) to stay vigilant in my high-minded refusal to eat at Chick-fil-A.
By digging deep into Thomas McKeller, the Gardner Museum has not only resurrected a lost figure (and lost music, and “lost” art) but revealed and contributed to an ongoing history.
Politicians are forced to perform on a massive stage and under the fierce gaze of a thousand lenses, yet few have real skills in that arena.
Not only do Lǐ Zǐqī’s videos offer us the satisfaction of seeing material labor, but they also suggest the impossibility — in the modern world — of genuinely recreating the work of the past.
Despite the growing number of artists in the Berkshires, there seems to be an effort, among large cultural institutions and the major media, to pretend that they are not around.
We were both English-speaking ex-patriots living in Istanbul, and John Ash’s poetry spoke eloquently to that shared experience.
Camille Bertault is an uncommon talent. She has a crystalline voice, good intonation, understands the rhythmic and harmonic underpinnings of jazz and has a prodigious memory.

Arts Commentary: The Show Won’t Go On. Now What?
Wall Street is getting a $1.5 trillion bailout (and counting). As usual, the arts, despite being a key economic engine, will not be so lucky.
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