Sameer Pandya’s ‘Our Beautiful Boys’ Is Vulnerable and Powerful
Sameer Pandya mines the pain of immigrant parents wrestling with America’s existential crises in Our Beautiful Boys .
Books
Features, reviews, interviews, and lists about books including cultural commentary and history, non-fiction, literature, and more.
Lollapalooza Is an Artifact That Will Never Be Replicated
Lollapalooza dragged alternative culture into the sunlight, created a safe space with Mötley Crüe-level hedonism, and became an artifact that will never be replicated.
Tom Robbins’ Crazy Wisdom
An undercurrent of seriousness prevails in Tom Robbins’ comedic expressions, occasionally bubbling to the surface to convey profundities on the nature of the universe, the human condition, et al.
Ayşegül Savaş’ Weirdo Artists and Anxious Women
For Turkish author Ayşegül Savaş, a midway point between “normalness” and artistry seems both bridgeable and impossible.
Joni Mitchell Inspires and Unsettles a Memoirist’s Life
Reverence for Joni Mitchell is clear in Paul Lisicky’s memoir. So, too, is an artistic courage that both inspires and unsettles him.
The Slavic Fairytale’s Baba Yaga Upends Japanese Yakuza Culture
In Akira Otani’s thriller The Night of Baba Yaga, the Slavic Fairytale’s Baba Yaga refuses to conform to women’s roles in patriarchial Japanese yakuza culture.
‘We Stand On Guard’ Goes to War Against Canada
Published in 2015, comics series We Stand on Guard speculates a near-future war between the US and Canada.
You’ve Gotta Get Satire to Get Dion DiMucci
Dion: The Rock ‘N’ Roll Philosopher is a tongue-in-cheek title that only Dion DiMucci can pull off with street panache—braggin’ is a blues tradition, after all.
10 Brilliant Music Books on the Art & Industry
From rock to hip-hop to country to punk to emo, here’s a list of superb music books to deepen the education for you or the music lover in your life.
The Future Isn’t What It Was
Glenn Adamson’s absorbing survey of futurology, A Century of Tomorrows, reveals that how societies predict the future says more about the era they’re living in.
American Jews’ and Muslims’ Conflicts and Commonalities
America’s religiously observant Jews and Muslims straddle a highway, each with one foot in religion and one in culture while worrying about being hit by traffic.
The Passion of Garth Brooks
Stephen Deusner’s entry in the 33 1/3 series about the wreckage of Garth Brooks’ ‘The Life of Chris Gains project makes for a mightily entertaining read.