Books
Is the End of Marriage the Beginning of Self-Knowledge?
In “Liars,” Sarah Manguso presents divorce as a way for women to reassert an essential identity that’s been effaced by coercive social scripts.
Briefly Noted
“Fifteen Cents on the Dollar,” “Jane Austen and the Price of Happiness,” “Swift River,” and “Their Divine Fires.”
Deals with the Devil Aren’t What They Used to Be
Tales of Faust’s bargain teased and consoled an earlier culture with the lure of freedom, the promise of a wider world. But Hell is everywhere now.
How Christian Fundamentalism Was Born Again
Nearly a century ago, a single trial seemed to shatter the movement’s place in America. It’s returned in a new form—but for old reasons.
When Yuppies Ruled
Defining a social type is a way of defining an era. What can the time of the young urban professional tell us about our own?
Should We Abolish Prisons?
Our carceral system is characterized by frequent brutality and ingrained indifference. Finding a better way requires that we freely imagine alternatives.
Briefly Noted
“The God of the Woods,” “Gretel and the Great War,” “They Called It Peace,” and “The Friday Afternoon Club.”
1982 and the Fate of Filmgoing
A new book claims that a few big summer movies heralded an epochal shift in the motion-picture industry, but is that really how cultural history works?