I began my relationship with Drake when I was living out of a suitcase, rebuilding myself from the ground up after the unwinding of my first adult relationship…

Sheer Enthusiasm: Feel Free: Essays by Zadie Smith

The Stoic Philosopher of the Lockup

SOLITARY
Unbroken by Four Decades in Solitary Confinement. My Story of Transformation and Hope.
By Albert Woodfox

Does Our Cultural Obsession With Safety Spell the Downfall of Democracy?

THE SPLINTERING OF THE AMERICAN MIND
Identity Politics, Inequality, and Community on Today’s College Campuses
By William Egginton

THE CODDLING OF THE AMERICAN MIND
How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure
By Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt

Fried Fish: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Liberation Struggle: Chester B. Himes: A Biography, by Lawrence P. Jackson. W. W.

A Blues for Albert Murray

His name was never household familiar. Yet his complex, mind-opening analysis of art and life remains as timely as ever—probably more so.

Breaking Into James Baldwin’s House



Loaded Dice: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Despite the hype, Beyoncé isn’t saying anything radical

She's not the Nina Simone of her generation



Can 48 Artists in 14 Rooms Capture Michael Jackson?

Paris When It Sizzles

Master of Fortune

Kehinde Wiley: Lamentation
Petit Palais, Paris
October 20, 2016 – January 15, 2017

Kerry James Marshall: Mastry
Met Breuer, New York
October 25, 2016 – January 29, 2017



Where does race fit in the construction of modern identity?

What It Was Like Living Inside a Week of Fear and Tension in Paris

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks that shocked the world, the city is recovering—but slowly, in a fog of suspicion and worry.

How Paris Is Recovering from the 'Charlie Hebdo' Attacks

A usually quiet city was jarred by sudden violence, and in the aftermath many are wondering what can be done to prevent another tragedy.

Oxford American

AGAINST AUTHENTICITY

MY PASTICHE OR YOURS?

Stefan Zweig’s 1942 novella, Chess Story, set on a steamer headed from New York to Buenos Aires, recounts the tale of a Viennese lawyer, Dr. B., who had been imprisoned by Nazis and subjected to an extreme form of mental violence. Held in a hotel room in total isolation for one year, with nothing to distract himself—no pens, paper, cigarettes or even a wristwatch to mark the days—he was thrust into “a completely timeless and dimensionless void.” …

A Novelist's Glittering Afterlife

Roberto Bolaño's tossed-away writings outshine most authors' finished work. Thomas Chatterton Williams reviews "Woes of the True Policeman."

Book Review: 'A Dreadful Deceit,' by Jacqueline Jones

For attempting to escape, a Maryland slave was flogged, burned with hot lard and finally asphyxiated. His owner was acquitted.

The State Of Race

Pooling interviews with 105 influential thinkers, including Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Malcolm Gladwell, "Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness?" tackles what it means to be Black in America today. Thomas Chatterton Williams reviews.

Dark Thoughts in City of Light

In "Paris, I Love You but You're Bringing Me Down," Rosecrans Baldwin describes his 18 months of living and working in Paris. It wasn't quite the expat experience of Hemingway or A.J. Liebling.

Home Thoughts From Abroad

A black writer sets out to discover where, if anywhere, African-Americans might feel at home.