Books
393 results
Page 28
'Words Without Music' by Philip Glass
From plumber to the gilded prizes with a ‘musical idiot’
Philip Glass's great experiment in sound helped release serious music from the grip of the serialists and academics and Aaron Copland — and opened Glass to older forms and orchestration, longer melody, and other traditions he would explore for the rest of his working life.
Articles
5 minute read
Jean Shepherd: An appreciation
The Great American Christmas Story
As an American humorist and storyteller, Jean Shepherd is right up there with Will Rogers and Garrison Keillor. Jerry Seinfeld has said that Shep “really formed my entire comedic sensibility.” Jerry probably grew up like me, listening to Shep dispense nightly wisdom on WOR radio in New York.
Articles
5 minute read
'SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome' by Mary Beard
Rome redux
By presenting a sampling of her insights into the history of Roman civilization in a spirited, learned, and accessible manner, Mary Beard's lecture was not just a good advertisement for and introduction to her long and massive study, it was good performance art.
Articles
3 minute read
Patrick J. Kennedy's 'A Common Struggle'
Code of silence, circle of shame
By speaking out and speaking up about mental illness and alcoholism in families, Patrick J. Kennedy is helping those of us who still feel shame, yet live with the fear of what these conditions will do to future generations if we keep silent.
Articles
5 minute read
Poet Eileen Myles at the Penn Book Center
On living twice
Eileen Myles’s reading at Penn Book Center gave fans a glimpse into the writing career of one of contemporary poetry’s biggest names. Her informal, conversational manner made the crowded reading feel unexpectedly intimate, making Myles’s words all the more powerful.
Articles
5 minute read
What I read on my summer vacation
From The Odyssey to The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, here's what I read over the summer and how it did (or didn't) change my life.
Articles
5 minute read
'For Such a Time' by Kate Breslin
Is Esther the right model for the heroine of a Christian romance novel?
The Jewish experience might be a good fit for Christian marketing, but like the real victims of the Holocaust, we may soon find ourselves absented from our own narrative.
Articles
5 minute read
Godfrey Hodgson's 'JFK and LBJ'
The last two great presidents?
Was John Kennedy's popularity deserved? Or should it have gone to his successor, Lyndon Baines Johnson?
Articles
6 minute read
Elijah Wald's 'Dylan Goes Electric!'
Electric Bob
Dylan made it okay to like rock ’n’ roll. He carried the intellectual endorsements to make those who’d disparaged or abandoned rock regard it anew. And he had the genius to make those still-popping fingers rethink rock’s capabilities.
Kate Bolick's 'Spinster'
The solipsistic spinster
Kate Bolick takes almost 300 pages to analyze her decision not to marry from every possible angle in Spinster: Making a Life of One’s Own, while remaining oblivious to her level of privilege.
Articles
5 minute read