Why Is It So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism?
In White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo commits the error of telling her readers what to think instead of providing ways to use critical thinking to challenge societal norms.
cultural criticism
The End of Endings: How ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ and Don DeLillo’s ‘Zero K’ Explain the Current State of Storytelling
Somehow, without realizing it, for both DeLillo and Rowling, death, the end of the world, and endings themselves are best emblematized by a dysfunctional father/son relationship.
Stand-up, Scandal, and Satire: On Iain Ellis’s ‘Humorists vs. Religion’
Is a "theology of humor" viable?
The Problem with Joseph Epstein’s Essays on Culture
One can't help but wonder what Epstein feels at churning out fuel for those reactionaries most determined to wreck "the best that has been thought and said" in liberal culture.
The End of Endings; or, Why Won’t Anyone Stay Dead?
What does it mean when our stories and our characters, unlike our lives, refuse to come to an end?
Alice Bolin’s ‘Dead Girls’ Fails to Closely Exam the Bodies
Throughout Dead Girls, Bolin is too eager to jam pack chapters with popular cultural references rather than fully deconstructing the subjects.
Stuart Hall: Voted Most Likely to Succeed
Seemingly for those interested in Stuart Hall's theories, this text is really just for Stuart's cool kids in the hall.
Hannah Gadsby’s ‘Nanette’ Makes Us Realize the Present Tense
Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette is a cultural milestone not only because it demands a better future, but also teaches the present moment and where we might go next.
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“Pounding Humility into You Permanently”: On Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain was loved not for his wit or charming temerity, but for confronting us with our own alienation and cultural isolation.
‘Bunk’ Joins the Dots Between Barnum and Trump
Kevin Young painstakingly presents the history of hoaxes and why we keep falling for the same old shtick.
He’s Martin Amis…and We’re Not
The recent release of The Rub of Time once again marks Martin Amis amongst our most proficient critics, seemingly without peer in terms of his range and scope.
Christopher Hitchens Embraced and Devoured with Equal Passion
Christopher Hitchens’ interviews offer a tantalizing appetizer of the breadth, scope, and urgency of the legendary contrarian’s thoughts on culture and politics