FROM THE MAGAZINE

February 2024

Book Review

The notorious feud between John Ruskin and James Whistler

The trial at Falling Rocket’s center stands for something larger than a critic’s dislike of a painting

By Oliver Soden

From the Magazine

Book Review

Relive Lou Reed’s wild, contradictory life

In Lou Reed: The King of New York, Will Hermes seems unusually well attuned to his subject, while resisting any temptation to soft-pedal

By Philip Clark

From the Magazine

Books

In praise of George Gissing, the born exile

The writer was one of the great underrated chroniclers of ’the valley of the shadow of books’

By D.J. Taylor

From the Magazine

Book Review

Cahokia Jazz is enormous fun

Francis Spufford’s latest is a gorgeously rich and multilayered story, packed with gunfire, music and superstition

By Amanda Craig

From the Magazine

Books

The peculiar American attitude toward death

Taking our mortality too seriously has been an increasing problem in our country. Thank heavens for the satirists who refuse to do so

By Amelia Butler-Gallie

From the Magazine

Music

John Densmore on protecting the Doors’ legacy

The drummer seems to have settled for the role of a wise elder statesman of rock ’n’ roll

By Christopher Sandford

From the Magazine

Film

Does Joan Crawford deserve her bad reputation?

It’s unlikely a Crawford could happen in today’s Hollywood

By Mitchell Jackson

From the Magazine

Theater

Beauty, terror and banality are uneasily juxtaposed in Harmony

During a time of monstrous persecution, there was a band dedicated to joy that consisted of Jews and Gentiles

By Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore

From the Magazine

Gaming

The frustrating promise of infinite freedom in video games

For a game to work, it has to reach a complex balance of systems and narratives

By Ross Anderson

From the Magazine

Art

How does the global art market move?

Since its launch in 2017, Convelio has become the leading technology-led art shipment company in the world

By William Newton

From the Magazine