books feature
Why Work Doesn’t Work
The idea that we work because we want to, not because we need to, is a pernicious one that labor journalist Sarah Jaffe dissects in Work Won’t Love You Back.
The Guilty Pleasure of Chelsea Summers’ Monstrous ‘A Certain Hunger’
Easy to summarize but difficult to, um, flesh out, Chelsea G. Summers’ A Certain Hunger is, without a doubt, the Great American Female Serial Killer Novel.
Stefano Mancuso’s ‘The Nation of Plants’ Gives the Green Party a Podium
Could humankind change its social structures to mimic plants' inherent strengths of cooperation and conservation?
Landing Instructions for Derrida
In his book, An Event, Perhaps, Derrida's intellectual development is adroitly unpacked by Peter Salmon without bamboozling the reader or peddling dime-store psychologizing.
‘Queer Legacies: Stories from Chicago’s LGBTQ Archives’
From the rich archives of Chicago's Gerber Hart Library, John D'Emilio's Queer Legacies offers an inspiring overview of individual perseverance; poignant losses, and stirring collective gains.
Megan Rapinoe’s ‘One Life’ Is Pitch-Perfect
In Megan Rapinoe's memoir One Life, her training, hard work, and competitive spirit are coupled with an impassioned account of her political awakening.
In Author Dennis E. Staples’ Town, Sleeping Dogs Don’t Lie
In Dennis E. Staples’ remarkable debut This Town Sleeps, flawed mothers and sons must pacify vengeful ghosts and family curses.
Author Gabriel Bump Advises Young Writers to ‘Embrace the Sluggishness’
Gabriel Bump's protagonist in Everywhere You Don't Belong is an everyman who often mounts his narrative plateau with the discriminating eye of a filmmaker. This interview with Bump has us wondering, should he write a screenplay?
Memoir ‘Kiss Myself Goodbye’ Dims the Brightest Subject
Ferdinand Mount's gripping family memoir, Kiss Myself Goodbye, paints a calamitous picture of one of its supporting characters, Georgie. But I knew her closely for over 40 years. She not only transcended tragedy but helped me do the same.