A Cute Idea
Ryan Trecartin's films defamiliarize contemporary culture without casting explicit judgment
Hate Sinks
The facade of liberal democracy only stays clean by putting young women in hate’s way
Some of This Actually Happened
American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street, in and out of history
Seeing Things
A review of At the Edge of Sight: Photography and the Unseen by Shawn Michelle Smith
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
The NFL has used empiricism’s tenets to mystify the link between concussions and head injury. But “science” can’t defeat “Mom logic”
Return to Sender
When gay communist Didier Eribon came out of the closet, it wasn't as a man gay or a communist. The French sociologist came out as working-class
Games of Truth
Social media serve as a staging ground for wars of authenticity
Kill Your Martyrs
image by imp kerr, adapted from Many of us have a habit of being overly credulous to stories that flatter our biases When I was…
The Principle of Our Negative Solidarity
A review of Common Ground: Democracy and Collectivity in an Age of Individualism by Jeremy Gilbert
Here to Make Friends
Kids are ideal contestants, making little league reality shows better than the adult versions. But what if they don’t want to play by the rules?
The Thief
The appropriation art of Chad Wys
The Quiet Life
Jesse Ball’s new novel, Silence Once Begun, rises above metafiction to read as tragedy
How Can You Watch That Stuff?
Mixed-martial-arts fighters take a terrible beating not only from each other but also from the UFC’s labor practices
Downward-Facing Drones
For all the flexibility of mind and spirit it’s supposed to bestow, yoga in America is a resolutely orthodox endeavor
Little Boxes on a Hillside
Better-designed cities will make people happier — those who get to live in them, at least
No Contest
When sports is all about the money, every call is a chance to make a buck