Depicting the Artistic Quest in ‘Miles Davis and the Search for the Sound’
Dave Chisholm uses creative methods for his graphic non-fiction novel about Miles Davis including gorgeous artwork to illustrate the jazz icon’s artistic quest.
Books
Features, reviews, interviews, and lists about books including cultural commentary and history, non-fiction, literature, and more.
Trapped in the Long Tomorrow: ‘Blade Runner’, Cyberpunk, and Our Stuck Future
Blade Runner serves our vision of an inevitable dystopian future because we live in a “stuck future”, refusing to heed cyberpunk’s warning.
New Bio Explores What Fueled Joan Crawford’s ‘Ferocious Ambition’
Was Joan Crawford self-made or industry-made? Biographer Robert Dance explores what fueled the Hollywood star in Ferocious Ambition.
Nicolas Cage Biography ‘How Coppola Became Cage’ Focuses on Methods and Cooperation
Zach Schonfeld’s compulsively readable, well-researched book on Nicolas Cage, How Coppola Became Cage, gets to the heart of the unique, multitalented actor.
Nostalgia in Lieu of Substance: ‘A Handheld History’ Plays It Safe
Good looks can’t save the book A Handheld History: A Celebration of Portable Gaming from being a trivial account of video game history.
Living with Uncertainty in ‘The Sterns Are Listening’
Below the surface clutter of its frenetic plot line, The Sterns Are Listening deftly deals with dwelling ‘peacefully in doubt’.
‘Suffering Sappho!’ Unghosts the Lesbian in Lesbian Camp
Lesbian camp is not a thing of the past. It evolves and remains relevant to subsequent generations. Suffering Sappho! Unghosts the lesbian in lesbian camp.
Author Jerome Charyn on the Complex Demons in ‘Ravage & Son’
Author Jerome Charyn’s Ravage & Son is a brutal novel written with a beauty that transcends the violence, providing an empathetic look into human complexity.
Hans Kundnani’s Forward-Looking ‘Eurowhiteness’ Suffers Blind Spots
Hans Kundnani’s Eurowhiteness is a take on racism from a European perspective, which is as forward-looking as it is occasionally short-sighted.
John le Carré Gives No Truth, Only Betrayal in ‘The Pigeon Tunnel’
Errol Morris’ The Pigeon Tunnel follows a wily, cynical, yet chipper John le Carré down a rabbit hole of Cold War moral ambiguity.
The Evolving Archetype of the Crooner
Art critic Alex Coles demonstrates in his convention-challenging Crooner: Singing from the Heart From Sinatra to Nas that crooning is a vocal style and image encompassing theatrical exaggeration and heartfelt reality.