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Current Issue

Issue 34


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Letter

On the Old Romantics

Note on Issue 34

Essays

Left-Wing Irony

Among the Post-Feminists

Performance Trouble

Last Boys at the Beginning of History

Dialogue

and

The Real People

Correspondence

A Good Party

Literature

Everyone Is Innocent

Deep Breath

In Memory of Mrs. K

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Degrading Intimacy

Trickle-Down Culture

 

Fall 2024

Issue 33

Education & Society


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Letter

On Students

Essays

Everything Is Out of Water

Popular History

Teeth

Symposium: Education & Society

Schooling Myself

Beyond Neutrality

The Velvet Ditch

Commit Lit

Literature

The Screen

Reviews

Céline’s War

Percival Everett’s Great Books

Anorexia and Autonomy

Jeopardy!

 

Spring 2024

Issue 32

What are men for?


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Letter

On the Crisis of Men

Essays

Blighted Horizons

Autobiography of Influence

Doom Scroll

Symposium: What are men for?

The Failed Man

Battlefield Ecstasies

Strength Training

Searchers

Fear of Fashion

God Save the Top

Survey

Manhood

Reviews

DIY

The Zone of Interest

Traces of Iman Mersal

 

Winter 2024

Issue 31

The most gregarious of the arts


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Letter

Note on Humility and Power

Essays

Entering History

Fame’s Shadow

Within the Pretense of No Pretense

Correspondence

Ruins upon Ruins

Darkness over Donbas

Literature

Every Weirdo in the World Is on My Wavelength

Parnassus

Shame

The Last Days of Bohemia

Reviews

In Vitro

Venice Architecture Biennale

Cormac McCarthy’s Last Novels

 

Summer 2023

Issue 30


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Letter

On the Aesthetic Turn

Essays

My Beautiful Friend

Negative Criticism

Double Reality

Symposium: What is beauty for?

Unnatural Gifts

Routine Appearances

The Emancipation of Sensibility

On Superficiality

The Art of Ugliness

The Right to Beauty

Negative Space

Dialogue

and

Beyond Comprehension

Survey

The Beauty Industry

Reviews

Crimes of the Future

James Longenbach

 

Winter 2023

Issue 29

What is tech for?


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Letter

and

On Mobs

Essays

Everything Is Hyperpolitical

On Loving White Boys

Blessings for Atheists

Symposium: What is tech for?

and

Second Minds

The Virtual Condition

Working in Tech

Outsourcing Virtue

Silicon or Carbon?

Intelligent Life

Dialogue

and

Progress Studies

Survey

Working in Tech

Correspondence

Among the Reality Entrepreneurs

Reviews

Elizabeth Hardwick’s “I”

Girls Online

 

Fall 2022

Issue 28

Back to Life


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Letter

On the End of the Canon Wars

Essays

Minor Resurrections

The Lull

When Reason Fails

The Sound Makes All the Difference

Correspondence

The Perils of the Past

Literature

Atoms as They Fall Upon the Mind

The Fall and Rise of McGovern McNabb

The Emigrants

Reviews

Ethnic Studies

Erotic Fiction

Elite Capture

 

Spring 2022

Issue 27

What is the military for?


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Letter

On Duty

Essays

False Witnesses

The Anxiety of Difficulty

Unlucky Children

Symposium: What is the military for?

Readiness Is Not All

The Soldier and the Citizen

Any Volunteers?

One Must Imagine Faust Happy

Survival Training

Forward March

My Complex—and Ours

Military Life

Dialogue

and

What a Coup Is

and

The Weight of Service

Survey

Military Life

Correspondence

The Unifier

Reviews

Europe: A Philosophical History

The Somerville Quartet

 

Winter 22

Issue 26


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Letter

On Language Games

Essays

Sex and Sensibility

Careerism

Hysterical Empathy

Correspondence

Where Dreams Come True

Literature

On Equanimity

Search History

Art That Contains Theories

Reviews

Reflections of a Nonpolitical Man

When I Get Home

Roden Crater

 

Summer 2021

Issue 25

What is college for?


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Letter

On College

Essays

Resisting Oblivion

Hot or Not

Symposium: What is college for?

The Real College Scandal

Degrees of Anxiety

The Second Curriculum

What Should Students Learn?

Where Is the University?

The Universe and the University

Elite Education

College Life

Remarks

When Meghan Married Harry

Survey

College Life

Correspondence

The End of the Dock

Reviews

Politics Without Guarantees

Edward Said’s Double Vision

Artists and Elders

 

Spring 2021

Issue 24

Non-Ideal Theory


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Letter

On Ideal Theories

Essays

No Good Has Come

House Hunters

The Logic of the Like

Sources of Life

Correspondence

Life Studies

Literature

Difficult Characters

Foreword

Reviews

Hofstadter’s Darker Liberalism

Nationtime

No One Is Talking About This

 

Fall 2020

Issue 23


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Letter

and

On Integration

Essays

Dismissal

Lovers in the Hands of a Patient God

Symposium: What is sex for?

A Deeper Longing

Annihilation

We All Deserve to Heal

Museum Lover

Dialogue

and

American Nightmares

Survey

“Don’t You Kneel”

Literature

Little Things Are Big Again

Foreword: “Little Things Are Big Again”

Reviews

The Group

Meaning a Life

 

Summer 2020

Issue 22


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Letter

On Birthrights

Essays

It Was More Than a Notion

The Drama of the Commons

Between Us

Capitalism at Dusk

Symposium: What are nation-states for?

The Idea of a Nation

Structures of Feeling

Community of Communities

National Responsibility

Returning to Nowhere

Dialogue

and

Mistakes We’ve Made

Correspondence

The Revolution Will Be Telegrammed

Reviews

Illness as Fantasy

Guest House for Young Widows

Sandersism

The Toys of Princes

 

Winter 2020

Issue 21


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Letter

On the Hatred of Literature

Essays

Let Them Misunderstand

Real Characters

Correspondence

Simple Hearts

Literature

Artur and Isabella

Safety Meeting

Reviews

Rape Fantasies

Normal Novels

Man in the Crowd

Friends Like These

 

Fall 2019

Issue 20


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Letter

and

On Choosing Life

Essays

Treat Yourself

Bad Infinity

Symposium: What are children for?

A World Without Children

Half a Person

Quiet Time

Unnecessary Gifts

Close Likenesses

To Be Continued

Survey

Being a Kid

Correspondence

The Defender

Reviews

1989

Idleness

Bullshit Jobs

The Real Lolita

 

Summer 2019

Issue 19

Socialism in Our Time


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Letter

and

On Left Straussianism

Essays

Prophecy and Politics

Closer Reading

In Her Own Time

The Dictatorship of the Present

Remarks

and

Limited Time

Correspondence

Forms of Life

Reviews

Body Counts

Hart Island

Of Love and Blindness

 

Winter 2019

Issue 18

What is the earth for?


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Letter

and

Letter on Denialism

Essays

Lessons of Defeat

What Was New Atheism?

The Exception

Symposium: What is the earth for?

On the End

Animal Magnetism

Past Underfoot

Toward a Useful Ignorance

Conservation’s Radical Center

Stretching the Veil

Survey

Working with the Earth

Correspondence

This, Too, Was History

Reviews

The Souls of Yellow Folk

The Demon in Democracy

The Loser

 

Fall 2018

Issue 17

What is prison for?


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Letter

Letter on Justice

Essays

Singing Against the Grain

Regarding Joan Miró

Ante Up

Symposium: What is prison for?

Socializing Punishment

Rehabilitative Faith

Only Once I Thought About Suicide

Go Directly to Jail

Performing to Survive

and

Another Justice

Dialogue

and

Another Justice

and

Character and Deed

Survey

Living in Prison

Correspondence

A Lost Thing Finding Itself

Reviews

These Truths

Balanchine Liberalism

Denis Johnson’s God

 

Spring 2018

Issue 16

What are intellectuals for?


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Letter

Letter on The Point

Essays

Leaving Herland

Blame the Victim

“This Is the Girl”

Innocence Abroad

Symposium: What are intellectuals for?

Tired of Winning

Black Fire

Enlightenment Idols

I Am Madame Bovary

On Being an Arsehole

What Something Is

Switching Off

Dialogue

and

The Sting of Knowledge

Further Materials

Intellectuals in Crisis

Correspondence

Wrestling in Paris

Reviews

Useful Idiots

Guaranteed Income

The Amazon Bookstore

Slush Pile

The Life of the Mind

 

Winter 2018

Issue 15

What is church for?


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Letter

Letter on Reformation

Essays

American Reams

Rhapsody in Blue

Close to Nothing

The Master?

Symposium: What is church for?

True Story

A Serious House

Above Morality

Charitable Living

Touched by the Sacred

Can There Be an Atheist Church?

Three Funerals, No Wedding

Survey: What is church for?

and

Accounting for Tradition

Dialogue

and

Accounting for Tradition

Survey

Survey: What is church for?

Correspondence

The Disbeliever

Reviews

Baidu Baike

Anselm Kiefer

The Closing of the American Mind

 

Summer 2017

Issue 14

What is comedy for?


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Letter

Letter on Satire

Essays

It’s a Circle

Climbing Kanchenjunga

Final Fantasy

Symposium: What is comedy for?

Saint Bart

Comedy Studies

and

Things Don’t Make Sense

Shock and Ow

Insert Punchline

Punching Down

The Audacity of Jokes

Rallying Sigh

Letter on Satire

Dialogue

and

Things Don’t Make Sense

Further Materials

Comedy Studies

Reviews

Debths

The Archers

The Google Bus

Slush Pile

Endgame

 

Winter 2017

Issue 13

What is America for?


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Letter

Letter on Our President

Essays

Pilgrim at Tinder Creek

Heroes and Housewives

Symposium: What is America for?

Midwestworld

A Country Is a Country

Negative Growth

Tar Heels, Alive

Articles of Faith

Blackness + America

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Conflict and Consensus

Dialogue

Pleasure Won

Dictionary

The Crisis of Language Project

Reviews

I Love Dick

The Selfishness of Others

Simple Living

Slush Pile

Democracy in America

 

Summer 2016

Issue 12

What is poetry for?


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Letter

On Political Fiction

Essays

After the Flood

Who Did It?

Camera-phone Lucida

The Time of the Assassins

Symposium: What is poetry for?

By Heart

Class Dismissed

The Last of the Iron Men

Demagoguery and Poetry

Poet at Work

Pure Madness

Casebook

Dialogue

and

Poetry and Politics in Myanmar

Reviews

Monocle Men

Multiple Purposes

Graveyards

 

Winter 2016

Issue 11

What is protest for?


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Letter

On Purity

Essays

The Insane Idea

Better Now?

Returning the Gaze

Bad Spirits

Add Your Own Egg

Symposium: What is protest for?

Linked Fate

Crowd Love

Building the Movement

Against Demonstrative Politics

After the Carnival

Political Faith

Reviews

New Work

Kids

Gamelife

Kalamazoo

 

Summer 2015

Issue 10

What is travel for?


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Letter

To Fellow Travelers

Essays

The Art of Decay

Fail Again

Complications of Philosophy

Out of Good Reasons

After Ferguson

Symposium: What is travel for?

Stendhal Syndrome

Being Elsewhere

The Shuttle Era

Away Games

Against Honeymoons

Reviews

Doubting T. S. Eliot

Gay Berlin

Melancholy

Forward with Fukuyama

 

Winter 2015

Issue 9

What is privacy for?


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Letter

The Social Network

Essays

Hell

Putin and the West

The Exile’s Game

Foes of God

The Tragic Diet

Symposium: What is privacy for?

Into the Cave

The Social Network

Private Lives

Being Known

The Social Filter

The Genetic Self

Reviews

Distant Reading

Back in the Day

Watch Dogs

Wordless!

 

Summer 2014

Issue 8

What is science for?


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Letter

The New Humanities

Essays

and

Building Stories

The Problem of Slavery

Searching for Shanghai

Mobilizing Mutual Learning

Symposium: What is science for?

and

What Is Science for?

Popular Science

The Soviet Science System

In Praise of Things

Wonder and the Ends of Inquiry

Dialogue

An Interview with Michael Lemonick

Reviews

Carl Van Vechten’s Photography

The Idea of a Critical Theory

Charlie Trotter

Norman Rush

Noma

 

Fall 2013

Issue 7

What is marriage for?


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Letter

On Security

Essays

Prey

Perilous Aesthetics

The Lonely Intellectual

No Such Thing?

Looking Back

Symposium: What is marriage for?

Natural Laws

Marrying Up

The Love We Use

A Matter of Life and Death

Joiners and Quitters

Not for Anything

Reviews

The World of Coca-Cola

Enlightened

Outrage

1994

 

Winter 2013

Issue 6

What are animals for?


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Letter

On Food

Essays

My Job Search

Socialism We Can Believe In

Out with the New

A Plea for Human Food

Symposium: What are animals for?

Imagination and Advocacy

Cave Trout

Using Animals

Children and Animals

On Killing Animals

Getting Animals in View

Reviews

Further Evidence

Rootabaga Country

Mad Men

Burning Man

 

Spring 2012

Issue 5

What is the left for?


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Essays

A Lack of Audacity?

On Tiger Moms

Not Even Past

Sizing Up Oprah

Coming to Terms

Symposium: What is the left for?

Anti-Politics

Freeing the Market

Toward a Social Socialism

Libya and the Left

American Dreamers

Dialogue

An Interview with Bill Ayers

Reviews

Small Talk

9/11 Literature

Repetition

Cloud Gate, Tilted Arc

Funny Girls

 

Spring 2011

Issue 4

What are sports for?


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Essays

Problems with Authority

The Human and the Octopus

Let Me Ride

Salvation for Civilians

Steroids, Baseball, America

Symposium: What is sport for?

Soccer and Schizophrenia

Healthy Rivalry

Hail Mary Time?

March Madness

The Sweatiest of the Liberal Arts

Reviews

Chicago Heights

Sarah Palin’s Alaska

Chris Ware’s ANL #20

Chicago’s Political Theater

 

Fall 2010

Issue 3

What is conservatism for?


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Essays

Boredom

Revolutionary History

Object Lessons

Ecstatic Variations

Everything Alright?

Call of Duty

Symposium: What is conservatism for?

An Interview with Harvey Mansfield

Burke, Paine and the Great Law of Change

Conserving the Novel

Why Conservatives Should Read Marx

The Drama of Cultural Conservatism

Further Materials

John Hanson’s Statement of Teaching Philosophy

Reviews

Joe Frank

The White Ribbon

Don DeLillo

 

Winter 2010

Issue 2

What is film for?


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Letter

On Health & Care

Essays

Predatory Habits

The War at Home

Hard Feelings

Love in the Age of the Pickup Artist

Symposium: What is film for?

The Old Frontier

The Perspective of Terrence Malick

Abbas Kiarostami’s Transcendental Style

Another Article about David Lynch

David Cronenberg’s Disembodied Cinema

No Good Reason

Dictionary

The (Updated) Dictionary of Received Ideas

Reviews

John Hughes

Gay Pride in Jerusalem

Modern Wing

Granta’s Chicago Issue

A World Without Why?

An Apology for the Course & Outcome of Certain Events

Inheriting Socrates

Examined Life

 

Spring 2009

Issue 1

What is politics for?


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Essays

Two Modes of Ideological Mystification

The Limits of Liberalism

The Withering of Narcissus

The Passion of the Cow

Here, Now

Death Is Not the End

Symposium: What is politics for?

Obama: Philosopher-King?

Arendt and the Space of Action

Self-Conscious Publics

Idealism in Obama’s America

Reviews

Gatz

The Female Slacker

The Creation Museum