Book Reviews
A Scientific Life on the Edge
Stanton Peele's memoir of his "lonely quest to change how we see addiction" contradicts the prejudices that still dominate the drug policy debate.
Foucault in the Panopticon
How Michel Foucault's encounters in Poland's heavily policed gay community informed his ideas
Terrorwashing a Genocide
How the war on terror facilitated Communist China's repression of Uyghurs
Neal Stephenson's Termination Shock Is a Glorious Sci-Fi Vision of How To Respond to Global Warming, One Geoengineering Problem at a Time
In Stephenson's near-future novel, innovation, not legislation, is the best response to a changing climate.
Sean Wilentz Reviews Noah Feldman's New Lincoln Book, "The Broken Constitution"
"Feldman contends that [Jefferson] Davis was right and Lincoln was wrong."
The Best of Cold War Culture
Books, films, and more related to the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Diversity Can't Save Eternals. It's a Cosmic Disaster.
Marvel's latest superhero epic is a boring movie about boring people.
Review of the New Dune Movie
It's by far the best cinematic version of Frank Herbert's classic science fiction novel.
Lockdowns' High Costs and Murky Benefits
Cato economist Ryan Bourne's new book is a much-needed rejoinder to the obtuse economic reasoning of many pandemic-era policy makers.
The Spinning Wheel of Confusing Television Reboots Lands on 4400
Just like the characters, this short-lived sci-fi show makes a mysterious return years later.
Dune Is an Epic Love Letter to Classic Science Fiction
This is Denis Villeneuve's movie, but it's fully Frank Herbert's Dune.
The Family Firm
Context, tradeoffs, and preferences matter—both in parenting and outside of it.
We Are Satellites
Sci-fi novelist Sarah Pinsker's new book deals with the ways technology shapes how we conceive of the inner self.
Stealthily Wielding Caesar's Sword
Sohrab Ahmari's case for tradition conceals an authoritarian agenda.
La Brea Is a Sucking Sinkhole of a Sci-Fi Mystery Show
Both literally and in terms of quality
Project Hail Mary
In the new sci-fi novel, humanity manages to save itself not with social revolution but through reason, technology, and innovation.
Undoing Drugs
Harm reduction invites a radical reconsideration of the way the government deals with politically disfavored intoxicants.
A Clear and Present Lack of Danger
We can stop obsessing about Islamic terrorists crossing the Southern border.
The Unsinkable City
A new book explores how New York has transformed itself since the crises of the 1970s.
America's Cross-Partisan Dalliance With Eugenics
A new book pulls the curtain back—but only partway.
Autonomous Mexico
What happened when some indigenous people took their lands back from the state
Robin DiAngelo Is Very Disappointed in the White People Making Her Rich
Nice Racism—and the "anti-racism" consulting business—rakes in the bucks while losing hearts and minds.
When Kidnappings Were All the Rage
With panic in the air, federal law enforcement seized the moment.
City Building and Black Power
That time a civil rights activist teamed up with Richard Nixon to build a black-run town in rural North Carolina
Autopsy of a Crime Lab
The book argues that judges should take their responsibility as gatekeepers of scientific and technical evidence more seriously.
Tacky's Revolt
Historian Vincent Brown's new book examines the 18th-century slave insurrection, arguing it was really four different wars at once.
Rethinking the Power To Take a Life
America's approach to capital punishment changed in the 1970s. It's time for another look.
Wanted: A Better Way To Think About Health Care
If social insurance plans had been designed by libertarian-leaning policy mechanics, what might they have produced?
In Army of the Dead, a Zombie Outbreak Becomes an Excuse for a Public Health Power Grab
In Zack Snyder's latest, zombies are a public health issue, much like COVID-19.
WandaVision
The show perfectly encapsulates the feelings of grief, confusion, and isolation born of the pandemic.
AMC, Amazon Offer Up Television Adaptations of Two Hot Books
Too Close and The Underground Railroad provide wildly different experiences.
Want Me
In her new memoir, journalist Tracy Clark-Flory weaves in a quarter-century of cultural advice, warnings, and gripes about the sex lives of millennials.
The Third Temptation
To Austin Rogers, the trio of temptations presented to Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew has key political implications.
The Myth of Antonio Salazar
The integralist right's foolish crush on the man who once ruled Portugal
A Declassified Case Against Torture
Retired FBI agent Ali Soufan argues that the agency's thirst for torture made it harder to protect Americans.
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
For sci fi fans who enjoy getting lost in internet rabbit holes
The Expanse
People are people and politics is politics, no matter how far you get from planet Earth.
Tomorrow, the World
As France fell to Nazi Germany, America's elites glanced nervously eastward and began to envision the U.S. as the new defender of global order.
Let Me Tell You What I Mean
Didion reminds us that while youth culture and political leaders may change, our underlying drives and delusions seldom do.
