Despite President Trump’s fatuous protests about the “Deep State,” we seem to be in a similar place with respect to entertainment relating to the intelligence community, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in particular.
During recent snowbound days, I indulged in a bout of binging the second season of House of Cards, the celebrated political drama starring Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright, and a brilliantly cast supporting ensemble. Actually, I did the same binge with the [...]
Any scan of the bestseller lists shows a national book culture awash in pulp. But all those hungry zombies, vengeful angels, vampire lovers, scrappy postapocalyptic teens, and fairy princess-warriors with wicked blades and toned physiques bear litt [...]
Jonathan Franzen at the 2011 Time 100 gala / by David Shankbone
Hi, Jonathan,
I read your essay in the Guardian, and, I have to say, I’m worried about your professional legacy. I agree with some of what you had to say, disagre [...]
One wonders if pop culture's preoccupation with novelty, the dazzling shine of newness, its inescapable immediacy—mixed with an endless outpouring of images—has diminished the import of photographic art. In a visually top-heavy information stream [...]
For my generation, comic books received a bad rap. Parents were convinced comics were a contributing factor to a great epidemic of juvenile delinquency and a concomitant claim that the readers of comics were, by definition, stupid. It was not until t [...]
As part of the general tumult for social and economic justice that accompanied the late 1960s anti-war movement (which I covered, in part, earlier), there was heightened interest and awareness in the genocidal march of history that decimated the na [...]
"Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations."
—George Orwell
"More newspapermen have been ruined by self-importance than by liquor."
—Walter Lippman
In 1970, living on the nor [...]
Dear Old Sport,
I'm writing to you in late May of 2013, and the world again has its attention on The Great Gatsby.
A new film version (the seventh) opened early this month and has already grossed $115 million. The acclaimed theatre grou [...]
Poets & Writers (March/April 2013)
A recent issue of Poets & Writers features the married writing couple Victor LaValle and Emily Raboteau. “Books and Babies,” the magazine says on the cover. How do writers balance it [...]
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