Culture

The Enduring Appeal of The Nutcracker

In this season of charity, perhaps we can reconsider the unjustly maligned reputation of Fritz, the troublemaker child in the Nutcracker ballet. Continue Reading »

24 Dec 2021

Everyday Depravities

by Peter J. Leithart

The common, everyday, petty baseness of people is far more frightening than the most horrific fictional characters. Continue Reading »

23 Dec 2021

Whereas bad journalism is easy—all you need is an internet connection and an instinct for what will make people furious—good journalism needs editors who can coax the best out of writers (and excise their worst). Continue Reading »

20 Dec 2021

A Year of Reading: 2021

by John Wilson

John Wilson recaps his year in reading, chronicling the books that stand out the most. Continue Reading »

3 Dec 2021

Sincerely, Rodgers & Hammerstein

by Peter Tonguette

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, who comprised the most consequential partnership in the history of American musical theater, were brought together by chance. It happened in the early 1940s, when each on his own cottoned to the idea of adapting the play Green Grow the Lilacs into . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Dec 2021

The Joys of the Harpsichord

by John Ahern

The piano is the instrument of expressive individualism; the harpsichord is the instrument of a vibrant, discursive life of the mind. Continue Reading »

22 Nov 2021

The Dune Phenomenon

by Elizabeth Bachmann

Dune isn’t merely the sci-fi novel of sweeping scope and futuristic gadgets, but a story of man’s craving for God. Continue Reading »

9 Nov 2021

What Sally Rooney Thinks Reading Is For

by Liel Leibovitz

Rooney’s decision not to publish her books in Hebrew isn’t really about Israel or its policies at all. It’s about the meaning of culture, how it should be produced and consumed, and who and what it should serve. Continue Reading »

15 Oct 2021