E Pluribus Nixon
A sweeping new social history portrays Richard Nixon as the president his fratricidal country deserved—and perhaps the best we could have hoped for.
Book Review
Keeping a Civil Tongue
An English critic decries the decline of his language—and his civilization.
‘I Am Joan Crawford’
Through sheer force of will, Hollywood’s most infamous single mother constructed a persona seductive, repellent, and almost impossible not to watch.
A Revolutionary Simpleton
A new account of Ezra Pound’s early years reveals his volatile genius—and prefigures the madness that would claim him.
Tales Out of School
How a pushy, Type A mother stopped reading Jonathan Kozol and learned to love the public schools
California Cool
Editor’s Choice: When postwar modernism went west, it dropped the angst—and transformed a culture.
The 2,000-Year-Old Panic
A newly reissued novel evokes the charms and hatreds of a lost world—and the enduring contradictions of anti-Semitism.
Couture Clash
Editor’s Choice: How Dior’s and Balenciaga’s competing visions of style and women revived high fashion
Victoria’s Secret
Paul Scott’s Raj Quartet reveals how sex doomed the British Empire.
The Lessons of Katie Couric
Katie Couric’s long day’s journey into evening