New York Review of Books

Our March 21 issue—the London Book Fair issue—is now online, with Gary Younge on Britain’s woes, Meghan O’Gieblyn on godly delusions, J. Hoberman on Harry Smith’s feverish sensibility, Joshua Hammer on the traumatic recent history of Iraq, Frances Wilson on the intensity of being Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, David Cole on the future of free speech online, Jessica Riskin on Darwin’s vivid and playful letters, Peter Brooks on when Proust found the time, Verlyn Klinkenborg on dust’s might, Linda Greenhouse on social progress and the Court, Fintan O’Toole on Trump’s dangerous jokes, poems by Moses Abu Toha and Catherine Barnett, and much more.

Fintan O’Toole
Laugh Riot

To understand Trump’s continuing hold over his fans, we have to ask: Why do they find him so funny?

Gary Younge
Small Island

What has happened to Britain?

Verlyn Klinkenborg
The Cost of Our Debris

The stated purpose of Jay Owens’s new book is to “think with dust,” specifically “human-made” dust and what it reveals—the forensic fingerprint, so to speak, that our species has left upon this planet.

David Cole
Who Should Regulate Online Speech?

A number of cases before the Supreme Court this term will determine the future of free speech on the Internet.

Jessica Riskin
Every Creeping Thing

In his late writings and correspondence, Charles Darwin was thinking about how mortal beings strive to make what they can of themselves.

The Critic and Her Publics

In the third episode of the podcast series The Critic and Her Publics, New York Review contributor Merve Emre talks with Hannah Goldfield about restaurant reviewing, brined chicken, and what makes a good cookie.

The Review is collaborating with Lit Hub to publish transcripts and recordings of The Critic and Her Publics. In a series of conversations at Wesleyan University, Emre talks with some of today’s sharpest working critics about their careers and methodology, and then asks them to close-read a text that they haven’t seen before.

Hannah Goldfield,
interviewed by Merve Emre
‘I Am the Cabbage Writer’

“More important than whether I like something or don’t like it, or whether someone else likes something or doesn’t like it, is context.”

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