The picture neoconservative foreign policy intellectual Robert Kagan paints in his new book, Rebellion, is dark and foreboding. As he sees it, a competition between liberalism and anti-liberalism has “been fought within the American system since the time of the Revolution.” And things are now coming to a head. Although the present crisis “seems unprecedented, […]

I never planned on writing about literary it-girl Honor Levy. I knew Levy would get tons of press in the lead-up to the publication of her first book, the brilliantly titled My First Book, marketed as “A Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by Good Morning America, W, Nylon, SheReads, and LitHub.” So I wasn’t particularly […]

When a biographer is confronted with a reclusive or recalcitrant subject, there are two ways to proceed. One option is to charm, cajole, or at least play along with the subject to achieve cooperation. The other is to hector and pester the subject, and when the subject shows some signs of interest, to refuse to […]

Jimmy Breslin was an archetype, a white ethnic working-class New York journalist who spoke his mind, stuck his thumb in the eye of authority municipal, financial, and criminal, and found his story in the people of his city.  Except that archetypes are supposed to be eternal. It’s not just that cities change fast and New […]

During Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to Europe in May, China and Hungary signed several agreements, including a $2.1 billion rail project that will be part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Announced in 2013 under the name One Belt, One Road, the initiative has been central to Chinese foreign policy, even though the program […]

In his biography of Franz Kafka, Max Brod declared that his friend never wrote a “single word” that was not “infused with a special magic charm.” Ever since the posthumous publication of Kafka’s work, work that only saw the light of day because of Brod’s refusal to carry out Kafka’s request to burn his manuscripts […]

As you may have gotten from our lead essay, this Summer Books issue, alongside a rich compendium of seven reviews of new titles, we are stepping away from the publication calendar to look at old books that we return to. In the special Winter Books issue to come, you can look forward to recommendations from […]

President Biden’s campaign will launch a $50 million battleground state ad blitz, it announced Friday, a move that comes as he seeks to assure voters he’s up for the job following last week’s dismal debate performance. The campaign also said it would invest $17 million to ramp up voter outreach over the next two months...

The Biden campaign has planned an aggressive travel schedule and a media blitz to target voters in key battleground states, despite increasing calls for President Biden to drop out of the race.