Archive
The complete Open Letters Monthly Archive.
Two books by Mark Leibovitch create a picture of Beltway wheelings and dealings that's almost unbearably incestuous, with virtually no lines drawn between elected officials and profiteering lobbyists. Greg Waldmann plumbs the depths and reports back.
Read MoreA new book blames Pakistan for the carnage in Afghanistan. But what does "Pakistan" really mean when its government is so fraught with dissension?
Read MoreWho's at fault for our disastrous politics -- both parties? Not a chance, say Washington insiders Ornstein and Mann. Our resident politico fisks their analysis.
Read MoreSteve Jobs, the visionary predator who founded Apple and forged a new way of thinking about technology, wasn't a particularly nice man (as even his dutiful biographer must occasionally concede) - but was he a genius?
Read MoreIs there more to romance fiction than perfect people meeting cute and living happily ever after? Sarah Wendell thinks so, but her arguments in defense of this most reviled of genres may themselves sell it short.
Read MoreA meticulously-researched rendition of the horrifying massacres that comprised the "Rape of Nanjing" is the backdrop for Ha Jin's latest telegraphic and affecting novel.
Read MoreVivian Gornick's biography of Emma Goldman focuses more on the famous anarchist's love life than her political ideologies--but might those tumultuous relationships offer new insights into her beliefs?
Read MoreThe ethics of Wikileaks (and the antics of its mastermind, Julian Assange) continue to be the focus of controversy - and new books. Greg Waldmann takes a comprehensive look at the entire phenomenon.
Read MoreBest known today as the muse and lover of Edna St. Vincent Millay, George Dillon was a formidable poet and personality in his own right, and one well worth rereading.
Read MoreIt seems a given that natural scents would be preferable to synthetics, but might it be that our our perfume biases are too simplistic?
Read MoreOur poet of perfume and the curator of the brand new Center of Olfactory Art discuss why perfumes demand to be smelled and why "perfume is the only art form in which Americans are more illiterate than poetry."
Read MoreFor nearly three decades, Sara Paretsky has used the familiar form of the private eye novel to turn a critical eye on contemporary America. Rohan Maitzen reviews the latest in her V.I. Warshawski series.
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