Portside

A deft telling of a Wisconsin town and its people who lost their largest employer, a General Motors auto plant, typifying the collapse of much American manufacturing over the past quarter-century. Janesville is also--ironically or not-- the home of Paul Ryan, the U.S. House GOP speaker.

The March 18 killing of 22-year old Stephon Clark by Sacramento Police once again calls our attention to the racist aspect of the problem of civilians murdered by law enforcement. Angie Thomas's award-winning Young Adult novel is among the most recent literary responses to this crisis.

Ready Player One takes gaming culture and represents it as male-dominated, elitist and not dissimilar to the ‘alt-right’

It is still funny in the same ways it was always funny, using classic sitcom jokes and storylines to highlight issues of class.

Approaching the 50th anniversary of MLK’s murder, California poet henry 7 reneau, jr., writes, “There’s a sickness in people”—Malice…Greed…Denial—“in opposition to…common sense.” Not too late to do something about it.

The late Marta Russell was singular in viewing the marginalization of people with disabilities through the lens of political economy. The book's contributors offer a body of work that builds on her legacy and on the rising political insurgency of people with disabilities.

This new defense of a humanities education is a must read, says reviewer Meranze, "for anyone concerned with the relationship between humanistic activity and American democracy."

Steven Soderbergh’s new film is the story of a women held in a psychiatric hospital. It shows how film-makers are doing a better job with mental health issues.

At the Antiquarian Book Fair, gastronomical books are among the show-stoppers

Billions knows how to have fun with its depraved, cartoon-y universe of scheming hedge-fund managers and corrupt federal attorneys; it also knows how to dial it back just enough to feel like an authentic parallel to these depraved, cartoon-y times in America.