Michael Moore's "Capitalism' (2nd review)

Is capitalism evil?

Michael Moore's latest film screed takes on the ultimate evildoer, capitalism itself. Slogging from scene to scene of the crime in his working-class version of The Tramp, Moore looks for a little truth and decency in all the mess. Good luck to him, and to all of us. But is the theology really so simple?

Robert Zaller

Oct 25, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

Reif Larsen's "Selected Works of T.S. Spivet'

Inside the head of a precocious 12-year-old

You can tell when you pick up Reif Larsen's The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet that it's not just another novel. The physical book, slightly larger than the standard octavo, is sized to accommodate the extensive marginalia interwoven with the story. The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet. Novel by Reif Larsen. Penguin Press, 2009. 400 pages; $27.95. www.tsspivet.com.

Judy Weightman

Oct 19, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

Soderbergh's "The Informant!'

Soderbergh's Trojan horse

Steven Soderbergh's The Informant! seems to be a standard whistleblower saga at first, but turns out to be something quite different. It's an unsettling reminder that, in movies as well as real life, things aren't always what they seem.

Mark Wolverton

Oct 18, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read

Two novels that changed my life

Let us now praise obscure men: Two authors who changed my life

To an alienated teenager growing up in the conformist ‘50s, Warren Miller's The Cool World and The Hustler by Walter Tevis were Bibles of hope that I clung to for survival. In retrospect, these novels served me better than they served their authors, who were far more troubled than I was.

Bob Levin

Oct 13, 2009 · Articles · 5 minute read

Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story' (1st review)

Man with a (heavy-handed) mission

Shooting fish in a barrel, Michael Moore's latest gotcha documentary provides abundant evidence that American capitalism is out of control. Unfortunately, Moore steps on his own feet by repeatedly inserting himself into the drama.

Adam Lippe

Sep 29, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

Roald Dahl's adult stories

Second helpings: Roald Dahl for grownups

Roald Dahl is famous for his offbeat children's stories, like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. His adult tales, however, are far stranger— graceful and congenial, tightly constructed and as disturbing as Edna St. Vincent Millay's best sonnets.

Sep 25, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

Sharon White's "Vanished Gardens'

A journey in a hiccupping time machine

In Vanished Gardens, Sharon White takes readers on an impressionistic tour de force through Philadelphia's green spaces, past and present. She's a stylish writer, but fitting all the pieces of her broad mosaic together is no easy task.

Judy Weightman

Aug 25, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

Bartusiak's "The Day We Found the Universe'

Our long march across the cosmos: Humankind gets something right

A talented science writer tells the story of one of history's great intellectual sagas: how a group of semi-rational primates on an obscure planet discovered the true size and scope of the universe.

Tom Purdom

Aug 25, 2009 · Articles · 5 minute read

Yale and those Muhammad cartoons

Great moments in publishing: Judgment by committee at Yale

To avoid potential violence, Yale University Press has announced that the controversial 2005 Danish newspaper cartoons satirizing the prophet Muhammad (like the one at left) will be omitted from a forthcoming book about the global riots provoked by those cartoons. Is this a case of responsible behavior or intellectual cowardice?

Matthew Jakubowski

Aug 22, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

Christian Petzold's "Jerichow'

A German talent worth watching

Christian Petzold's Jerichow, a sly thriller from Germany that raises disturbing questions, recycles a twice-told noir classic, The Postman Always Rings Twice, but with the focus on the seeming victim rather than the seedy lovers. German film has never fully recovered from Hitler and rarely gets international distribution, but Jerichow announces a talent worth watching.

Aug 18, 2009 · Articles · 6 minute read