The New Republic Books & Arts

The Purpose Of Sex; The Life Of Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo

Stanley Kauffmann — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 05:00:00 GMT

The French director Catherine Breillat uses plentiful sex in her films. This is notable not for its candor, a quality that is nowadays general, but for its cunning purpose.

'Dark Knight': Yes, Heath Ledger's Great, But Aaron Eckhart Steals The Show

Christopher Orr — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 05:00:00 GMT

How far can an idle entertainment be bent toward art without breaking? This is the question implicitly posed by Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight,' the first superhero film that makes a serious bid to transcend its burgeoning genre.

The Left's New Goddess: What's Wrong With Naomi Klein's Theory Of Everything.

Jonathan Chait — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 05:00:00 GMT

It seems like a very long time--though in truth only a few years have passed--since the most sinister force on the planet that the left could imagine was Nike. In 2001, 'Time' proclaimed that the anti-globalization movement had become the 'defining cause' of a new generation, and that the spokesperson for the cause was the Canadian writer and activist Naomi Klein.

Christopher Hitchens, Damien Hirst, And Our Golden Age Of The Pseudo-Meaningful Stunt

Leon Wieseltier — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 05:00:00 GMT

In my brief but thoughtful existence, I have permitted myself only once the confidence to coin a law of life. It is that there is no such place as rock bottom.

Where Did The Dark Ages Come From? The Social Causes Of The Decline Of Ancient Civilization

Peter N. Miller — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 05:00:00 GMT

'Framing the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean, 400-800'

'WALL·E' Isn't Its Politics: The Movie's A Misplaced Valentine To Apple

Ben Crair — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Pixar's new film, 'WALL·E,' is a dystopia, and so it is surprising that conservatives find it so distasteful--they usually love the genre. Neocons like Norman Podhoretz have posthumously ordained Orwell a believer...

A Genius Director Stuffs Too Much Weirdness Into 'Hellboy 2'

Christoper Orr — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Near the midpoint of Hellboy II: The Golden Army, the titular demon is asked by his all-too-human girlfriend, 'Do you need everyone to love you? Or am I enough?'

Can T.V Shows Tackle Sex Without Being Blandly Moralizing Or Porno-Lite?

Sacha Zimmerman — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Television producers are starting to realize what publishers have long known: Adding the word "secret" to your title makes it sure to attract attention.

Have Freakonomicists Actually Revolutionized The Way We Think About Happiness?

Alan Wolfe — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 05:00:00 GMT

HAPPINESS: A REVOLUTION IN ECONOMICS (MUNICH LECTURES IN ECONOMICS)

Why Magazine Legend Clay Felker Is The Father Of Google

Marc Weingarten — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 05:00:00 GMT

We have already read much in his obits about how Clay Felker, who died last week at 82, transformed 'The New York Herald Tribune''s magazine supplement, 'New York,' into a primary outlet of what would become known as the "New Journalism."

In Praise Of My Favorite Painter, Jean-Antoine Watteau, On The Day His Best Work Goes On The Block

Jed Perl — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 05:00:00 GMT

I don't follow auctions. They represent a side of the art world--the financial side--that I would just as soon ignore, especially when I hear about the prices reached by contemporary art, which grow more astonishing with each passing month.

American Billionaires ♥ Mao

Jed Perl — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Cai Guo-Qiang: I want to Believe -- Guggenheim Museum

Will Smith's 'Hancock' Is Two Bad Movies Combined Into One Terrible Movie

Christopher Orr — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 05:00:00 GMT

It briefly looked as though the 4th of July might be up for grabs again. For about a decade, this week on the cinematic calendar had been officially unofficially reserved for Will Smith...

The Movie Review: 'Wall·E'

Christopher Orr — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

For over a dozen years now, the best name in American film has been Pixar. No movie star, no director, no writer, producer, or studio approaches its level of consistent excellence.

The Movie Review: 'Wanted'

Christopher Orr — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:26:00 GMT

Any film that features Angelina Jolie as an international assassin is, pretty much by definition, a film that glamorizes violence. But 'Wanted,' the Hollywood debut of Kazakh-Russian director Timur Bekmambetov, does more than glamorize. It glorifies. It fetishizes. It consecrates.

The oPod Revolution

Alex Pappademas — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:31:00 GMT

A couple years ago, 'GQ' asked John Kerry if he preferred the Beatles or the Rolling Stones. Kerry, never one to let an opportunity to appear human or interesting go unblown, refused to express a preference.

Can Celluloid Capture True Love?

Stanley Kauffmann — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Chris & Don: A Love Story (Zeitgeist) My Winnipeg (IFC) 19th Annual Human Rights Watch Film Festival

Criticisms Of China Have Only Made It Stronger

Andrew J. Nathan — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

'Beijing: From Imperial Capital to Olympic City' By Lillian M. Li, Alison J. Dray-Novey, and Haili Kong (Palgrave Macmillan, 321 pp., $27.95)

Films Worth Seeing

Stanley Kauffmann — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

'Chris and Don': This documentary about Christopher Isherwood and his partner Dan Bachardy, who was thirty years younger, is accomplished with emotional commitment, humor, subtle strength. The aging Don remembers and vivifies his late mentor and lover with affection and detail that recreates their interesting lives.

Nihilism and Capitalism In The Art World: U.S. Museums Are Now Fully-Owned Subsidiaries Of The Market

Jed Perl — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Broad Contemporary Art Museum -- Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Warning! Mike Myers, International Man Of Mysticism, Is Now Desperately Unfunny.

Christopher Orr — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

The velvet suit has been swapped for silk robes. The mop-top has been replaced by Medusan curls of beard and moustache, the artificial overbite by a prosthetic nose. Yes, Mike Myers is back.

Our Critic On Music And The Internet (And Why Radiohead Shouldn't Trick You Into Thinking You Can Rock)

David Hajdu — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

The urge to make the work our own is elemental to the act of encountering art, and we try to satisfy it in many ways. We look at a painting or listen to a piece of music and take it in, hoping that it will prove to be not only an expression of human feeling but also a stimulus to it; we expect art to move us in a personal way. Or we buy the artwork or a copy of it, making our ownership literal (if not always legal, in case of downloading bootleg digital files). Or we wear our esteem for the work like a fashion label, for the social or professional status it confers. Or we draw inspiration from the work and apply it to things we make ourselves, using whatever of it serves our needs. In one way or another, to experience art of any kind is to appropriate it, and to be a devotee of any art or artist is to be a claimant.

The Genetic History Of The Jews, And What It Says About Jews Today

Jerome Groopman — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Early in my career as a specialist in blood diseases and cancer, I cared for a middle-aged man who had melanoma. The cancer had pread from an early lesion on his trunk to his lungs, liver, and bones. He was a successful businessman, intelligent and outgoing, with sharp sense of humor. Through the course of his treatment, we developed a warm relationship, and he made it clear that, when the end ame, he wanted to be at home. As that time approached, he asked if I might see him one last time.

Genghis Khan, Sensitive Soul: The Poetic Masculinity Of 'Mongol'

Stanley Kauffmann — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Mongol -- Picturehouse

The Movie Review: 'The Happening'

Christopher Orr — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

M. Night Shyamalan's latest movie, 'The Happening,' is not merely bad. It is an astonishment, so idiotic in conception and inept in execution that, after seeing it, one almost wonders whether it was real or imagined. It's the kind of movie you want to laugh about with friends, swapping favorite moments of inanity: "Do you remember the part when Mark Wahlberg … ?" "God, yes. And what about that scene where the wind … ?"

The Movie Review: 'The Incredible Hulk'

Christopher Orr — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Louis Leterrier's 'The Incredible Hulk' is not a sequel to Ang Lee's 2003 'Hulk', but it could easily be mistaken for one. After a few minutes of expository flashback, the new movie begins pretty much where the earlier one ended, with scientist Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) hiding out in South America after having suffered a massive radioactive accident that causes him now and then to transform into a decidedly unjolly green giant and break lots of things. The primary cast, too, is the same: Banner, his brunette semi-girlfriend Betty Ross (Liv Tyler), and her gruff, antagonistic father (William Hurt, sporting the exact silver brush cut and moustache that Sam Elliott wore the last time around), who also just happens to be the general in charge of tracking the Hulk down.

Style Versus Ideas: What Matters More In Literature?

Stanley Kauffmann — Mon, 10 Jun 2002 05:00:00 GMT

Nostalgia? That would be insane. Still, there's a chill on the back of the neck, a hint of the passage of time, when Traudl Junge's face appears. This documentary is called Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary (Sony Pictures Classics). She is eighty-one years old here, neat, composed. She tells us that when she was twenty-two, Hitler engaged her as one of his private secretaries, and she stayed with him to the end. As she talks of his courtesy and care, of his affection for his dog and other such matters, we realize that after Junge and her contemporaries are gone, all that will be left of the twentieth century is history. Not many of us would want to collect personal souvenirs of Hitler--his shaving brush, his favorite tie; but this film reminds us that the minutiae of life in the past, actual life as it was traversed day by day, are often smothered by the large events around them. Would the loss of those details matter? Yes: Junge's recollections of Hitler are like glimpses backstage at an indescribable tragedy. The research of future historians may unearth more facts, but it cannot supplant the verity of this woman's being, her voice, our look into the eyes that actually saw.

The Sometimes Brilliant, Always Violent Modernism of Allen Tate

Adam Kirsch — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Collected Poems 1919-1976 By Allen Tate

Who Knew James Frey Would Be So Bad At Writing Fiction?

Ruth Franklin — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

One might have expected James Frey to be able to write a pretty good novel. After all, his name has become shorthand for the memoir wars of the last few years, in which a series of popular and critically acclaimed...

Films Worth Seeing

Stanley Kaufman — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Films Worth Seeing

Does Robert Walser Deserve To Join Joyce, Proust, And Kafka In The Modernist Pantheon?

Michael André Bernstein — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

'The Assistant'--By Robert Walser

If You Think Hummus Is Hilarious, You'll Love The New Adam Sandler Movie. Otherwise...Oy!

Christopher Orr — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Hummus is funny. Scratch that: Hummus is hilarious. It's got a weird name. It's gooey...

Who Is Muqtada al-Sadr?: Understanding The Least-Understood And Most Important Figure In Iraq.

Dexter Filkins — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

'Muqtada: Muqtada Al-Sadr, the Shia Revival, and the Struggle for Iraq', by Patrick Cockburn

Were Herodotus And Thucydides The World's First Journalists?

Anthony Grafton — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

A History of Histories: Epics, Chronicles, Romances, and Inquiries from Herodotus and Thucydides to the Twentieth Century

Joseph Conrad's Inscrutable (And Sometimes Dark) Heart

William Deresiewicz — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Joseph Conrad's Inscrutable (And Sometimes Dark) Heart

The Unexpected Extravagance Of 'Saving Grace.' Plus, Mexican Drug Hustlers And Recreating Haditha.

Stanley Kauffmann — Sat, 31 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Savage Grace -- IFC

Fedora Aside, Why Indiana Jones Is An Emblem Of Americanism

Eric Rauchway — Sat, 31 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

After the first big action sequence in the new 'Indiana Jones' movie, the camera stares from behind Jones as he regards, helplessly, one of the monstrous icons of the 1950s; after the last big action sequence in the film, the camera stares from behind Jones as he regards, helplessly, another. These parallel images bookend this presumably last episode of the hero's career, and help us put him in his place as an example of lost American virtues, as well as an embodiment of fundamentally American archetypes. Now, a warning: in the column that follows, spoilers will pop out like so many booby-traps in one of Dr. Jones's excavations.

Graceful In Victory, Magnaminous In Defeat: Roman Lessons On How To Win (And Lose)

Emily Wilson — Thu, 29 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

The Roman Triumph -- By Mary Beard

Films Worth Seeing

Stanley Kauffmann — Sat, 24 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Films

Jon Chait And The Writer And Director Of 'Recount' On How The GOP Turned Florida Into A Theater Of The Absurd (Part 2)

Jonathan Chait, Jay Roach, and Danny Strong — Fri, 23 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

To answer your latter questions first, I dropped everything to make this film for HBO, Sydney Pollack, and Paula Weinstein because when I read Danny Strong's incredible, intensively researched script, I found myself realizing I'd forgotten so many of the details of the nightmare we all experienced together in this country during the Florida Recount of 2000. But the script made me anxious and upset all over again. I wanted to pass that on--mainly to provoke discussion on the issues like the ones you raise.

Jon Chait And The Writer And Director Of 'Recount' On How The GOP Turned Florida Into A Theater Of The Absurd (Part 1)

Jonathan Chait, Jay Roach, and Danny Strong — Fri, 23 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

This Sunday at 8 p.m., HBO premieres Recount, their dramatized take on the contested 2000 Bush-Gore election results in Florida. TNR’s Jonathan Chait, who covered the debacle eight years ago and is still seething about it, discusses the film with its director, Jay Roach (of Austin Powers and Meet the Parents fame).

The Blog of War

Anne Applebaum — Fri, 23 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization

Jon Chait And The Director Of 'Recount' On How The GOP Turned Florida Into A Theater Of The Absurd

Jonathan Chait and Jay Roach — Fri, 23 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

This Sunday at 8 p.m., HBO premieres 'Recount,' their dramatized take on the contested 2000 Bush-Gore election results in Florida. TNR's Jonathan Chait, who covered the debacle eight years ago and is still seething about it, discusses the film with its director, Jay Roach (of 'Austin Powers' and 'Meet the Parents' fame).

It's So Packed With Feeling, Frank O'Hara's 'Selected Poems' Could Be The Heart In Someone's Pocket

Helen Vendler — Fri, 23 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Frank O'Hara: Selected Poems -- Edited by Mark Ford

What Made The Great Lionel Trilling A Failed Novelist?

Cynthia Ozick — Thu, 22 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

The Journey Abandoned: The Unfinished Novel--By Lionel Trilling

The Movie Review: 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'

Christopher Orr — Thu, 22 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' is a trip down memory lane so twisty that one could easily get lost. The movie is a throwback, of course, to the Indy trilogy of the 1980s, which was itself a throwback to the pulp serials of the 1930s and '40s. But, with the action now set in 1957 (19 years after 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,' itself released 19 years ago), it also carries a whiff of writer George Lucas’s 1973 breakthrough American Graffiti and its TV cousin “Happy Days,” themselves sentimental reminiscences of the ’50s and early ’60s. (The opening scene, in fact, features an impromptu drag race whose only discernable purpose is remind us that Harrison Ford got his movie-star start hot rodding in Graffiti.) If that weren’t enough, the movie hearkens back to director Steven Spielberg’s ’70s oeuvre as well, specifically--well, I’m not going to say. But when a film starts off in Area 51 you pretty much know where it’s going to end up.

A Holy Bore: On The Jesusification Of "American Idol"

Emma Rosenblum — Wed, 21 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

"American Idol," which concludes its seventh season tonight, has always been touched by God. Each year, there's at least one contestant who sways through a gospel song, jams out to a song by a Christian rock band, or sings a song about how Jesus loves you (so call in to vote!).

No Laughing Matter: Why Jimmy Fallon Is The New Jay Leno

Ben Mathis-Lilley — Tue, 20 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Many observers have noted (and hated) the way newly announced "Late Night" host Jimmy Fallon (he's replacing Conan O'Brien) used to break character more or less continuously during his time at "Saturday Night Live."

Everything You Know About The Dutch Tulip Bubble Is Wrong!

Ingrid D. Rowland — Mon, 19 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

TulipMania: Money, Honor, and Knowledge in the Dutch Golden Age

We're Living In A Golden Age Of Romanian Cinema. Seriously.

Stanley Kaufmann — Sat, 17 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Roman de Gare -- Samuel Goldwyn

The Movie Review: 'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian'

Christopher Orr — Fri, 16 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

In 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe', the magical portal that carries the four Pevensie children from our world into the enchanted land of Narnia is the titular wardrobe. In 'Prince Caspian', the honor falls instead to a subway station, and the shift conveys neatly the difference between the film adaptations of the two novels.

Remembering Rauschenberg (1925-2008)

Jed Perl — Wed, 14 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Robert Rauschenberg, the man who once said he wanted to act in the gap between art and life, has departed this life, dying on Monday at the age of 82 in his home on the island of Captiva, off Florida's Gulf coast.

The Flight To Cosmic Realism: Novels In A Post-Print World

Francesca Mari — Mon, 12 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

The Boys in the Trees -- By Mary Swan

Stop, 'Speed Racer,' Stop! The 'Matrix' Madmen Plunge Off The Rails

Christopher Orr — Fri, 09 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Are the Wachowski brothers the new George Lucas?

Lessons From The American Frontier That You Won't Find In A Rather Disappointing New Book

Alan Taylor — Thu, 08 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Seizing Destiny: How America Grew from Sea to Shining Sea

The Writer of HBO's 'John Adams': When Is It Acceptable To Rewrite History?

Kirk Ellis — Thu, 08 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

For good or ill, most people today receive their historical knowledge from the electronic media rather than the written word, especially as today's news quickly becomes tomorrow's history. In writing the HBO miniseries John Adams, my intent was not to portray the "external facts" of the American Revolution (as Thomas Jefferson phrased it in one of his late-life letters to Adams). Rather, it was to depict an internal history, an epic of thoughts and ideas refracted through the singular prism of one man who helped shape those events.

What Happened To The Missing Kids On The Milk Carton?

Ruth Franklin — Tue, 06 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

If you ate breakfast in America during the 1980s, you probably remember the milk-carton children. A face staring out next to your bowl of cereal, identified only by the barest of data--name, date of birth, height, weight, date last seen--and accompanied by the vaguely implicatory question: Have you seen this child?

How The Christian Right Has Damaged America

Damon Linker — Mon, 05 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Who would now deny that the political ascendancy of the religious right has been bad for the United States? Its destructive consequences are plain for all to see. It has polarized the nation. It has injected theological certainties into public life. It has led political leaders to invest their aims and their deeds with metaphysical significance. It has made America a laughingstock in the eyes of the educated of the world. And it has encouraged devout believers to think of themselves as agents of the divine, and their political opponents as enemies of God.

Was Shakespeare A Philosopher?

Martha C. Nussbaum — Mon, 05 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Shakespeare the Thinker -- By A.D. Nuttall

Dear Hollywood: Please Stop Trying To Kill Robert Downey, Jr.

Christopher Orr — Fri, 02 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Dear ...

Iron(y) Man Soars

Christopher Orr — Thu, 01 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Robert Downey Jr. turns summer's first blockbuster into a fast, fun triumph.

NYC's Sedate New Museum: Why Is A Museum Dedicated To Contemporary Art So Conventional?

Sarah Williams Goldhagen — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

New Museum -- SANAA

'Lush Life' Author Richard Price On The Politics Of Cops And Why 'The Wire' Isn't Really Television

Dayo Olopade — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

The Bronx-born Richard Price has walked a steady beat for over 30 years--combing the streets of New York and New Jersey for authentic American stories.

When Palestinians Collaborated With Zionists

Benny Morris — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Army of Shadows: Palestinian Collaboration with Zionism, 1917-1948 By Hillel Cohen

A New Treasure From Mongolia; Plus, 'Flight Of The Red Balloon' Soars

Stanley Kauffmann — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Tuya's Marriage -- Music Box

Errol Morris Was A Master Documentarian--Until The Iraq War Got Ahold Of Him

Elbert Ventura — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Accepting his Oscar for The Fog of War at the 2003 Academy Awards, Errol Morris made one of the night's memorable speeches.

Tina Fey's 'Baby Mama' Is A Bundle Of (Low-Key) Joy

Christopher Orr — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

At last, the backlash. Following a series of unwanted pregnancy comedies (the not-at-all smart Smart People was the latest in the litany), we're now treated to the inverse...

Diggins on the Final Hour of 'John Adams'

John Patrick Diggins, Kirk Ellis, Alan Taylor, and Steven Waldman — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Assessing the legacy of America's second president.

Waldman on the Final Hour of 'John Adams'

Steven Waldman — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Calling out unnecessary historical inaccuracies--but still loving the series.

Ellis on the Final Hour of 'John Adams'

Kirk Ellis — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Defending artistic license in recreating history.

Films Worth Seeing

Stanley Kauffmann — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Body of War. The subsequent life of a badly wounded Iraq veteran is interwoven with the Congressional sessions during which Bush was empowered to launch the war. This documentary is more than ironic and compassionate, though it is both: it dramatizes the fact that actions have consequences. (4.23.08)

Geezers Rock! Why 'Young@Heart' Warmed This Cynical Critic's Heart

Christopher Orr — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

What happens when a musical form associated with the dubious glamour of dying young becomes entwined with the less glamorous, far less dubious eventuality of dying old? This is the question implicitly posed, and movingly answered, by the documentary Young@Heart.

The Met's Absolutely Astonishing New Art Exhibit

Jed Perl — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

'Poussin and Nature: Arcadian Visions,' at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, takes us deeper into the inexhaustibly complex relationship between nature and culture than any other exhibition I have ever seen. When Nicolas Poussin sets men and women amid vast landscapes, he is reflecting on our experience of the natural world, and nobody has more beautifully woven together sensation and imagination, instinct and intelligence, freedom and design.

Cohn: PBS' 'Sicko' For Smarties

John Cohn — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

It was a little less than a year ago that filmmaker Michael Moore got the nation's attention with . But it’s hard to know how many people watching the film came away convinced, particularly when it came to Moore's portrayal of health care systems abroad.

Why Species Extinction Matters--Not Just To The Environment, But To The Human Psyche

Jonathan Rosen — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Recently, I wandered through "Audubon's Aviary," an exhibit at the New York Historical Society featuring watercolors by John James Audubon of birds that have, since Audubon painted them in the first half of the nineteenth century, become endangered or extinct.

Ellis on the Sixth Hour of 'John Adams'

John Patrick Diggins, Kirk Ellis, Alan Taylor, and Steven Waldman — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Part 6 is one of my favorites, and was one of the most satisfying to write. I'm surprised that neither of you mentioned the theatre scene, where Adams's arrival is acclaimed by the audience with a chorus of "Hail, Columbia." After the failures and diplomatic disasters of Adams's years as ambassador and vice president, that ovation--well-publicized at the time and chronicled in David's book--represents perhaps the high-water mark of Adams's career, perhaps his only real moment of unalloyed triumph.

Diggins on the Sixth Hour of 'John Adams'

John Patrick Diggins, Kirk Ellis, Alan Taylor, and Steven Waldman — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

The sixth episode of the John Adams series, dealing with his one-term administration (1797-1801), raises a question: Does history require momentous events to deserve our attention? Here is an era when we had no wars abroad or civil insurrections at home; no demand for change looking toward the future as much as a restoration of the past; no enduring legislation from Congress or decisions from the Supreme Court; no direct addressing of slavery in the South and racism in the North; no exciting economic take-off that promised the pleasures of prosperity; no impeachments or assassinations; and no well-publicized sexual scandals.

The Politics Of The Civil War Dead

Steven Hahn — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Dreadful as the past century has been in its carnage, Americans have--with some notable exceptions--been removed from the direct encounters. The bloody battlefields, bombed-out cities, and teeming detention camps lay elsewhere--indeed, almost everywhere else.

Waldman on the Sixth Hour of 'John Adams'

John Patrick Diggins, Kirk Ellis, Alan Taylor, and Steven Waldman — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Finally, John Adams Grows A Pair!

What Does The Congress That Authorized The Iraq War Owe To A Wounded Vet?

Stanley Kauffmann — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

During the debate in the fall of 2002 on the resolution that would empower President Bush to launch war in Iraq, Senator Robert Byrd--then age eighty-five, a trembly, impassioned opponent to the measure--quoted Hermann Göring's formula for seducing a country into war: promote the idea that the country will be attacked and that all who oppose its defense are traitors. (We can almost see the obese Göring smiling his dimpled smile and rubbing his hands. ) But the use of the quotation (however inappropriate the historical comparison), Byrd's opposition, and the opposition of twenty-three other senators could not prevent Congress from passing the resolution.

'Smart People' Isn’t Just Dumb--It's Dumb About Smartness

Christopher Orr — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

The title of the film Smart People seems almost a dare to critics: Can you make it through your entire review without calling the movie "stupid"? Alas, it isn't easy. Ostensibly a seriocomic tale about coping with loss and finding a balance between ambition and decency, Smart People is, for the most part, a sour and thoughtless bore.

A TNR Debate 'The Ten-Cent Plague,' Part 4

David Hajdu & Douglas Wolk — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

In this TNR debate, Douglas Wolk, the author of Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean, and David Hajdu, music critic for The New Republic and author of the new book The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America, discuss Hajdu's book, the potentially malevolent effects of lurid horror comics on '50s teenagers, and the current state of the art form.

Part Three Of A TNR Debate: 'The Ten-Cent Plague'

Douglas Wolk & David Hajdu — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

What Was Crime Comics' Moral Message?

Part Two Of A TNR Debate: 'The Ten-Cent Plague'

David Hajdu & Douglas Wolk — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Comic books in the '50s directly addressed 'evil' as a subject. Sometimes that was dangerous for young readers--and sometimes it was necessary.

Will Your Cell Phone Kill You? Investigating The Link Between Mobile Phones And Cancer.

Ezekiel J. Emanuel — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

The Secret History of the War on Cancer -- By Devra Davis

Discussing 'The Ten-Cent Plague': Isn't There Something About Horror Comics That Was Bad For Kids?

Douglas Wolk — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

I very much enjoyed The Ten-Cent Plague--thank you for writing it, and for agreeing to this dialogue! ...

Exchange: Waldman On The Fifth Hour Of 'John Adams'

John Patrick Diggins, Kirk Ellis, Alan Taylor, and Steven Waldman — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

I'm imagining that at some point in the writing of this series, Kirk, you must have looked at the normal HBO lineup and thought: You know, it's easier to make mob killing, polygamy, undertakers, and sex seem riveting than early American history. Exhibit A is the fact that the big, saucy, blood-curdling moment of Part 5 is … the ratification of the Jay Treaty.

Exchange: Ellis On The Fifth Hour Of 'John Adams'

John Patrick Diggins, Kirk Ellis, Alan Taylor, and Steven Waldman — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Looks like I've got some explaining to do this week. Alan--welcome to the discussion. Before taking up some of Jack and Steve's questions, I'd like to address your positive mention of our effort to achieve some balance in our depiction of events and people. From my very first meeting with Tom Hanks, he made it absolutely clear that there were to be no "villains" in the piece.

Exchange: Diggins On The Fifth Hour Of 'John Adams'

John Patrick Diggins, Kirk Ellis, Alan Taylor, and Steven Waldman — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Part 5 of the Adams series sustains the overall excellence and imagination of the project. This may be the most demanding segment since it involves Adams as vice president for two administrations consisting of eight years, and rather uneventful in terms of politics and diplomacy, though things are building up. Adams's well-known remark that the vice presidency is the "most insignificant" institution ever invented by man is a little more elegant than Lyndon Johnson’s remark that the office "isn’t worth a bucket of spit."

Kauffmann: Films Worth Seeing

Stanley Kauffmann — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Kauffmann: Films Worth Seeing

Alan Taylor Salutes 'John Adams'

Alan Taylor — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Alan Taylor Salutes 'John Adams'

George Clooney's Screwball Football Comedy Is A Fumble

Christopher Orr — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

George Clooney is something of a Hollywood oddity. Though clearly a star of the highest megawattage Time went so far as to recently "The Last Movie Star"), he's also a bit of a box office flop.

Exchange: Taylor On The First Four Parts Of 'John Adams'

John Patrick Diggins, Kirk Ellis, Alan Taylor, and Steven Waldman — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

John Patrick Diggins, author of John Adams: The American Presidents Series, Steven Waldman, author of Founding Faith, and Kirk Ellis, writer and co-executive producer of the HBO miniseries "John Adams," are discussing the show on TNR.com.

Detective Agency

Christopher Orr — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 04:00:00 GMT

In the 1950 introduction to his collection of stories Trouble Is My Business, Raymond Chandler explained the difference between the classic murder mystery and the hardboiled detective genre he helped invent. In the former, the conclusion--when the sleuth explains whodunit and how--was everything; what led up to it was mere "passagework," a careful alignment of plot elements to enable that final, big revelation. In the hardboiled genre, by contrast, the opposite was true: "[T]he scene outranked the plot, in the sense that a good plot was one that made good scenes."

Are The Costs Of Secularism More Than We Should Bear?

Charles Larmore — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

A Secular Age By Charles Taylor (Harvard University Press, 874 pp., $39.95) A Secular Age--By Charles Taylor

What Does It Say About Our Culture That Jhumpa Lahiri's Books, Including The One That Comes Out Friday, Speak More To The Coastal Elite Experience Than The Indian-American One?

Adelle Waldman — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

The fiction of Jhumpa Lahiri is a strong indication that the great American melting pot is in tip-top shape. That's not just because Lahiri, an Indian-American, is extremely popular, although she is: Knopf has printed 300,000 copies of Unaccustomed Earth, her new story collection, an astoundingly high figure for a writer whose work eludes any comparisons with that of James Patterson or John Grisham.

Exchange: Ellis On The Fourth Hour Of 'John Adams'

John Patrick Diggins, Kirk Ellis, and Steven Waldman — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Steve, you make facetious reference to that scene of "Founding Father sex" that opens the main action of Part 4. Critic Tom Carson in GQ called that moment "the nerviest scene Tom Hanks has ever okayed," and truth be told, the opportunity to show the Adams’s lovemaking was very much on all our minds from the outset.

Let Irène Némirovsky's Words Speak For Themselves.

Lexy Bloom — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Dear Editors:

Ruth Franklin makes some harsh and ugly accusations in her recent piece on Irène Némirovsky ("Scandale Française," January 30th). But her piece does nothing to further our understanding of Némirovsky, a writer whose work has now been read by millions of readers around the world.

Irène Némirovsky's Work Was Not Anti-Semitic

Olivier Philipponnat and Patrick Lienhardt — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Dear Editors:

Ruth Franklin’s recent tirade accusing Irène Némirovsky of being a "self-hating Jew" leaves those familiar with her works and life breathless with outrage. Ms. Franklin’s "analysis" is based largely on Jonathan Weiss’ flawed biography--a book no one published when he first wrote it in the late 1990s and which has only seen the light of day following the success of Suite Française--rather than on the actual works. It is obvious to any serious student of literature that neither Franklin nor Weiss have fully grasped the nuances of Némirovsky’s works, nor her courage in criticising, from within, the negative aspects of her culture. More to the point, Némirovsky was keenly interested in the question of how immigrants are treated: the mistrust, stereotyping and shunning of foreigners--especially Jews--and the lengths to which such poor souls had to go to be accepted in the French society of the time. Let us examine some facts.

Disputations: Ruth Franklin Responds

Ruth Franklin — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

The following is a response to three letters we received following Ruth Franklin's article, ...

Sandra Smith: Irène Némirovsky Was A "Citizen Of The World"

Sandra Smith — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Dear Editors: As the translator of Irène Némirovsky's works into English, I took great offense at Ruth Franklin’s recent diatribe against this fine author...

Shock! Robert Redford Produced A Documentary That Isn't Just Un-Preachy, But Excellent

Stanley Kauffmann — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Alexandra -- Cinema Guild

I Actually Saw '21'--And It Was Even Worse Than I Expected

Christopher Orr — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Like many people, I've grown increasingly annoyed with movie trailers that give away the entire movie.

David Gregory's Terrifying New Show On MSNBC

Sacha Zimmerman — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

March brought the end of MSNBC's "Tucker," the low-rated but spirited and quirky roundtable news show hosted by the once-bow-tied Tucker Carlson. I was awfully sad to see it leave the airwaves (full disclosure: I appeared on the program several times); it was a fun show that addressed the topics of the day without devolving into Lou Dobbesian agendas, Chris Matthews-like scream fests, Bill O'Reilly smears, or Wolf Blitzer droning snoozers.

Is Spitzer's Fall "Shakespearean"? Nay!

Stephen Marche — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Everybody's calling Eliot Spitzer’s fall "Shakespearean." I've seen the comparison made in The Wall Street Journal, on blogs, even on Fox News, and I wonder if other Shakespeare scholars find this as cringe-worthy as I do. Even if he did Hamlet in his high school yearbook, Spitzer's story is in no way Shakespearean and he certainly is nothing like a Shakespearean hero.

The Trailer For '21' Gives Away The Whole Movie Anyway--Why Should A Critic Bother Seeing It?

Christopher Orr — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

An irritating trend in the movie business is the increasing tendency of studios to lure folks to the multiplex with trailers that are essentially complete summaries of the films they're advertising: Here's the main guy and the problem he needs to resolve; here's the love interest, here's how they first meet, here's the rough patch they have to get through; here's the villain, here's the wisecracking best friend, here's the unexpected plot twist that's not going to be very unexpected now that we've featured it in the trailer--and there's the movie.

Home Court Advantage

Joshua Kurlantzick — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

With Tibet still simmering--Lhasa is in ruins and at least 100 people have reportedly died in various skirmishes over the last two weeks--the Chinese government has accused the Dalai Lama's associates of having colluded with terrorist organizations.

Exchange: Ellis Responds to HBO's 'John Adams' (Parts 3)

John Patrick Diggins, Kirk Ellis, and Steven Waldman — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

HBO's seven-part miniseries, John Adams, based on David McCullough's Pulitzer Prize-winning book about America's second president, premiered last weekend.

Exchange: Diggins Responds to HBO's 'John Adams' (Parts 3)

by John Patrick Diggins, Kirk Ellis, and Steven Waldman — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

HBO's seven-part miniseries, John Adams, based on David McCullough's Pulitzer Prize-winning book about America's second president, premiered last weekend. The New Republic asked historian John Patrick Diggins and author Steven Waldman to critique the series.

Exchange: HBO's 'John Adams' (Part 3)

John Patrick Diggins, Kirk Ellis, and Steven Waldman — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

HBO's seven-part miniseries John Adams, based on David McCullough's Pulitzer Prize-winning book about America's second president, premiered last weekend...

'This May Well Be The Most Important Book About History That Anyone Will Ever Read'

Peter N. Miller — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Who Will Write Our History? Emanuel Ringelblum, the Warsaw Ghetto, and the Oyneg Shabes Archive

'The Counterfeiters': A Holocaust Fable With A Happy Ending?

Christopher Orr — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Let's be clear: Austria's The Counterfeiters was not the best foreign-language film of the year. (For my money, that would be the minutely observed, grim-but-humane Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days.

The Noble Career Of Margaret Fuller

Christine Stansell — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Margaret Fuller: An American Romantic Life Volume II: The Public Years

Michael Haneke Is A Brutalizing Filmmaker Because We Need Him To Be

Jacob Rubin — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Dostoevsky famously railed against Turgenev not for attending an execution, but for being unable to watch the final, grisly moment when the condemned's head was chopped off.

Exchange: Diggins Responds to HBO's 'John Adams' (Parts 1 and 2)

John Patrick Diggins and Steven Waldman — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Steven, There are many memorable scenes in the first two episodes of John Adams. Capturing the feelings of a child watching the Battle of Bunker Hill was poignant, as was the composing and recomposing of the Declaration of Independence, with the scientific Franklin insisting that, when describing natural rights, the expression “self-evident” be substituted for “sacred and undeniable.” How to interpret the Declaration has perplexed statesman and scholars ever since, and Lincoln was determined to give it a religious explanation by returning the term “sacred.”

Why 'Stuff White People Like'--The Internet Phenomenon Of The Year--Just Isn't That Funny

Adam Sternbergh — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

When black people dance, they dance like this. But when white people dance, they dance like this.

Demagogues, Zealots, And Patriots: Two Scholars Tackle HBO's 'John Adams'

John Patrick Diggins and Steven Waldman — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

HBO's seven-part miniseries John Adams, based on David McCullough's Pulitzer Prize-winning book about America's second president, premiered this weekend. The New Republic asked historian John Patrick Diggins and author Steven Waldman to critique the series. Here is the first part of their exchange after last night's airing of Parts 1 and 2.

Does It Matter That Proust's Mother Was Jewish?

Robert Alter — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Madame Proust: A Biography -- By Evelyne Bloch-Dano

Films Worth Seeing

Stanley Kauffmann — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Alexandra. In this Russian film an elderly woman visits her soldier-grandson in an army base (unnamed but surely Chechnya) and becomes heartsick with the very idea of war. The theme is hardly novel, but it is freshened by the performance of the former opera star Galina Vishnevskaya in the title role. (Reviewed 4/9/08)

Roger Clemens, Biotechnology, And The Moral Crisis In American Sports

Leon R. Kass and Eric Cohen — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

The Super Bowl is over. March Madness is fast approaching, with NBA and Stanley Cup playoffs close behind. Spring training for the new baseball season has begun. Year after year, season by season, sports fans across the country shift their attentions, polish their loyalties, and renew their hopes: maybe this year, just this once, it won't again be "wait 'til next year."

The Repellent 'Funny Games' Thinks It's Smart. Don’t Be Fooled.

Christopher Orr — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

With the door perhaps beginning to shut on the brief era of torture porn--...

Sexing Up The Movie Musical

Stanley Kauffmann — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Heartbeat Detector

Understanding Alfred Kazin, The Great Writer's Writer

Jed Perl — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Alfred Kazin: A Biography By Richard M. Cook

Baudelaire And The Perils (And Promise) Of Translation

Lorin Stein — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:00:00 GMT

The Flowers of Evil -- By Charles Baudelaire

How Sherlock Holmes Destroyed The Literary Career of Arthur Conan Doyle

Richard Jenkyns — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 06:00:00 GMT

By Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower, and Charles Foley

The Strange Saga Of The Jewish 'King Lear'

Stephen Greenblatt — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:00:00 GMT

The Jewish King Lear: A Comedy in America By Jacob GordinFor as long as I remember, my father took a lively interest in how many people showed up at the funerals of his friends and acquaintances, most of them members of the synagogue where he served as president or of the many Jewish organizations with which he ceaselessly busied himself. "Mollie," he would say with excitement when he returned from the funeral parlor, "you should have seen Stanetsky's this afternoon. It was packed, a real mob scene."

Films Worth Seeing

Stanley Kauffmann — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 06:00:00 GMT

Chop Shop. With the grit of a documentary but the imagination of a humanist poet, Ramin Bahrani explores a gritty auto repair shop district in Queens, New York. The (fictional) lives of a twelve-year-old boy and his older sister, keep the film close and affecting. (Reviewed 3/12/08)

Jonah Goldberg's Tedious and Inane Attempt to Link Fascists and Liberals.

Michael Tomasky — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:00:00 GMT

Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning

Why This Book Of Blogs Is So Much More Voyeuristic Than Reading Them Onlin

Jacob Rubin — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:00:00 GMT

Like the best neologisms, "blog," has always seemed onomatopoeic.

The Small Miracle Of 'Chop Shop': Fiction Of A Dangerous Kind

Stanley Kauffmann — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 06:00:00 GMT

Plus, Gus Van Sant returns to the avant garde.

Have You Heard Of Anne Boleyn? Then 'The Other Boleyn Girl' Isn't For You.

Christopher Orr — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 06:00:00 GMT

Anne Boleyn (Natalie Portman) stands at the scaffold, sentenced to death. Next to her hovers the headsman, his broad sword gleaming. All around, the crowd brays for blood. All of it, that is, except for her gentle sister Mary (Scarlett Johansson), who watches with fear and apprehension. Henry VIII (Eric Bana) has promised Mary that he will spare Anne's life, but time is running out. Suddenly, there is a rustle at the edge of the throng, and royal couriers hurriedly make their way to Mary, bearing a handwritten message. Is it the king's pardon?

The Vanity, Irony, And Surprising Poignancy Of This Year's Campaign Songs

David Hajdu — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:00:00 GMT

"Yes We Can" "You and I" "Let's Put a Woman in Charge" Among the things that happened in early February, when Barack Obama's campaign for the Democratic nomination seemed suddenly to kick into a higher gear, was the emergence, through YouTube, of a new music video called "Yes We Can," a mash-up of moments from the speech Obama gave after the New Hampshire primary, set to music by Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas. The clip had more than two million hits in its first week, and the Obama campaign posted a link to it on the homepage of its website.

Understanding The Bite-Sized Genius of Michel Gondry. Plus, An Exclusive Q&A.

A.J. Goldmann — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:00:00 GMT

Michel Gondry shows up late to the interview suite at the Ritz Carlton. He's in Berlin to promote his new film, "Be Kind Rewind," which is the closing selection of the Berlin International Film Festival and opened in the U.S. on Friday. He is wearing a turquoise sweater with a red plaid shirt, and is fingering a miniature Rubik's cube, the perfect symbol for this puzzling artist who started out working in the condensed format of commercials and music videos.