Review
Review
It Happened Here
The recent TV adaptation of The Plot Against America rejects Philip Roth’s vision of American exceptionalism.
Alisa Solomon July 1, 2020
Review
No Time for Nostalgia
When We Were Arabs does little to expand the political possibilities for a younger, American Mizrahi milieu.
Emily Suzanne Lever June 29, 2020
Review
Police State Procedural
The new season of Fauda takes the denigration of Palestinians to new depths.
Mitchell Abidor June 2, 2020
Review
A Stranger in Silicon Valley
Anna Wiener’s memoir of her time in San Francisco tech subtly skewers the industry, but its elegantly disaffected style has its limits.
Jess Bergman May 19, 2020
Review
Yikhes
The vexing uses of the metaphorical Jew in Matthew Lopez’s The Inheritance.
Alisa Solomon March 3, 2020
Review
Creeps of Late Capitalism
In Serotonin, Michel Houellebecq maps the degradations of neoliberal notions of “progress” and “free trade” directly onto sexual politics.
Gili Ostfield February 19, 2020
Review
Appraisal of Memory
In Patrick Modiano’s fictions of Vichy France, collaboration is not as it appears.
Dustin Illingworth February 3, 2020
Review
American Blood Libel
In The Accusation, historian Edward Berenson tells the story of an age-old antisemitic canard’s sole appearance in the United States.
Bradley Babendir January 22, 2020
Review
Boundary Issues
Once a wickedly clever saga about a family of dissolute LA Jews, Transparent loved itself to death.
Eric Thurm January 15, 2020
Review
The Courage and Cowardice of Vasily Grossman
Stalingrad represents yet another effort by the author to elevate the intimately personal over the anonymously political.
Becca Rothfeld January 13, 2020
Review
Abortion Without Apology
In her new book, Jenny Brown urges feminists to return to a more radical mode of reproductive rights activism.
Meaghan Winter December 2, 2019
Review
Changing the Climate
Naomi Klein’s new collection provides a historical overview of the last decade—one that charts how far the environmental left has come.
Alex Lubben November 18, 2019
Review
Savior Story
The Red Sea Diving Resort treats Ethiopian Jews as hapless victims, rather than political agents.
Hannah Borenstein November 14, 2019
Review
Self-Hater
In Nadav Lapid’s new film, Synonyms, a young Israeli attempts to outrun his own Israeliness.
Mitchell Abidor October 23, 2019
Review
Cancer and Its Metaphors
Anne Boyer’s The Undying seeks a new form for the cancer memoir.
Nancy K. Miller October 22, 2019
Review
Facing Reality
In The Lions’ Den, Susie Linfield studies eight Jewish leftists’ views on Israel but fails to confront her own liberal Zionist preconceptions.
Shaul Magid October 15, 2019
Review
The Rise and Fall of the Fourth Reich
A new book by historian Gavriel D. Rosenfeld traces the persistent idea of a resurgent Nazi regime.
Noah Berlatsky October 10, 2019
Review
Speech Acts
Despite its attunement to the political potential of language, Ben Lerner’s The Topeka School remains trapped in reductive narratives about the Trump era.
Dilara O’Neil October 1, 2019
Review
Bari Weiss’s Unasked Questions
In How to Fight Anti-Semitism, a facile approach to history justifies an impoverished ethical stance.
Judith Butler September 23, 2019
Review
No Heroes
Mr. Klein stands out among Holocaust films for refusing easy paths of pure villainy and simple redemption.
Mitchell Abidor September 3, 2019
Review
Yiddish Fiddler’s Unseen Triumphs
Fidler afn Dakh opens new possibilities for reading the iconic play, but it’s not clear who’s noticing.
Jonah S. Boyarin August 29, 2019
Review
Remaking the Canon in Our Image
This emerging canon of American Jewish poets imagines Jewishness anew in its true complexity and multiplicity.
Lynn Melnick August 28, 2019
Review
Who Needs Social Realism?
As the popularity of social realist cinema wanes, Ken Loach and the Dardenne brothers offer possible visions for the genre’s future.
Andrew Lapin August 12, 2019
Review
Searching for Black Thought in White Antifascism
Natasha Lennard’s otherwise incisive new essay collection fails to adequately address what nonwhiteness might offer antifascist thought.
Zoé Samudzi August 1, 2019
