For the Oxford Review of Books, Alex Chasteen pairs Raven Leilani’s Luster and Torrey Peters’s Detransition, Baby in a review discussing how, taken together, these novels suggest “a sort of unified theory of dissociation, linking together social marginalisation (as understood through transness, Blackness) with sex and violence as ways of coming into or leaving a body you’ve been alienated from.”
Viking will publish a final novel by the late spy novelist John le Carré: Silverview will be released in October. “This is the authentic le Carré, telling one more story,” said the writer’s youngest son, the author Nick Cornwell.
At The Baffler, Noah Kulwin considers Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book, The Bomber Mafia: “By now, the press cycle for every Gladwell book release is familiar: experts and critics identify logical flaws and factual errors, they are ignored, Gladwell sells a zillion books, and the world gets indisputably dumber for it. His podcast routinely ranks among Apple’s top 100, suggesting that his reach has extended beyond his mammoth book sales for some time.” Kulwin continues, “Ever the optimist, I hope that this time is different.” Instead, he finds that Gladwell’s study of World War II military officials is thin on historical analysis and predicated on a false distinction.
Skylight Books in Los Angeles is the latest in a growing number of bookstores who have unionized.
Jewish Currents has published a running “Guide to the Current Crisis in Israel/Palestine” after soliciting questions from readers. Mari Cohen, Joshua Leifer, and Alex Kane discuss how Palestinians see Hamas, the May 15 Israeli airstrike on Gaza City’s al-Jalaa tower, apartheid and the Sheikh Jarrah evictions, the Biden administration’s response, and more.
The Yale Review has launched their new website, TYR, which will have web-only essays, reviews, columns, poetry, audio, video, and more, as well as online versions of their print issues. In an editor’s note, Meghan O’Rourke writes, “The work of little magazines is painstakingly slow because it’s driven by commitment to principles like fully vetted ideas, accuracy, and innovation, rather than by the whims and trends of a market; it’s part of what makes little magazines ‘little’ but lasting.”
Haymarket Books has posted a video of their live event from last night with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and Elizabeth Hinton discussing Hinton’s new book, America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s.
