Arts & Culture

While Americans were doing their Thanksgiving thing and the citizens of the rest of the world did whatever it is that they do on any given day, India was rocked by what may end up being their 9/11. At least … Read More

The news that’s not about dead Indians: President-Elect Obama is expected today to announce the appointments of Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates as the Secretaries of State and Defense, respectively. 20,000 U.S. troops are expected to be stationed within U.S. … Read More

In 2004, Nicholson Baker, lately celebrated in some quarters for his argument that World War II wasn’t quite worth the trouble, published a rather creepy, inconsequential novel entitled Checkpoint. The entire narrative consists of one character confiding in another his … Read More

A few weeks ago I went to see the new Andy Warhol exhibit, "Warhol’s Jews," at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. Though I’ve never cared for Warhol or his artwork– his refusal to truly speak about the themes … Read More

Anthony O. "Tony" Scott recently published a thought-provoking essay in the New York Times on the romance between the film industry (most notably Hollywood) and the Holocaust. The catalyst for the piece is the plethora of Holocaust-related movies that are … Read More

The Beginnings of Ritual   When God intrudes from within A story, as in the ordering Of unleavened bread, bitter Herbs, and the roasted lamb, When God’s telling-about the Seder Delays the Angel of Death And preserves a memory, we … Read More

Last one before the news takes a couple of days off so that those who cover it can enjoy the holiday… Defense Secretary Robert Gates will get to keep his job, at least for now. Ibrahim Nasir, the first president … Read More

"It’s a very ugly time in American publishing," my agent wrote to me. I had just received my semiannual statement from my publisher, which informed me that a total of 716 paperback copies of my first book, Company C were … Read More