Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Francis Fukuyama Famously Declared The End Of History. Well…
For Fukuyama, the demise of the Soviet Union testified to the “total exhaustion of viable systemic alternatives” to––and thus, the “unabashed victory”––of “economic and...
Why Thinking Rationally Is Such A Challenge
It’s not that we don’t think—we are constantly reading, opining, debating—but that we seem to do it on the run, while squinting at trolls...
We Process Historic Events With Images. Afghanistan Is A Complicated Image
Phil Kennicott: "Countries, like travelers, want to make sense of things, which is why we reach for an image — a quick metaphor, a...
National Company Of “Wicked” Hires “Director Of Social Responsibility”
Working closely with labor unions and other production partners, Christina Alexander will implement strategic procedures related to hiring practices to identify qualified candidates from...
My Conversations With Suzanne Farrell
"Farrell is the only dancer who could inflect solos with such a dense and bewildering array of ideas that I felt I needed at...
Barbara Kruger On Being An Artist, A Consumer (And Not Being A TikTok Star)
"We live in this digital universe. Digital life has been emancipating and liberatory but at the same time it’s haunting and damaging and punishing...
Theatre’s Employment Problems
The harsh reality of layoffs and rehiring has sparked much confusion and pain among theatre workers, especially the technicians whose shops have sat empty...
How Napoleon Systematically Plundered Europe’s Art
These were not smash-and-grab operations. He sought out experts to advise him on which cultural treasures to ship back to Paris. Napoleon wanted to...
Where Dancers Go To Rehab As Performances Resume
Dr. David Weiss, an orthopedic physician with the NYU Langone facility in Kips Bay, compared the runup to Broadway’s comeback to a training camp...
Social Media Has Redefined Gen Z Elite Athletes
Through social media, they have opened up conversations about performance, mental health and the impact of the media. Sports stars are making their voices heard...
Why Intellectuals Have Such Lowly Public Status
The general public in the United States sees intellectuals as disconnected from their everyday struggles and concerns. From this perspective, intellectuals don’t actually work...
All The Reasons Book Reviewing Is Lacking
If there is a problem with book reviewing the problem is that those of us who are good at it aren’t good enough, there...
The Case Against Beach Reading
Reading is not a beachy activity. Reading is for armchairs and bay windows and loverless beds. Bring a book to the beach and you’re...
Marc Ribot: Why I Have To Play My Music Super-Loud
Audiologists say this could make one’s ears howl, create an uncomfortable sensation of density in one’s head, and eventually make it impossible to hear...
In Praise of The Lowly Lullaby
Individuals who heard them as babies relied on them, decades later, as parents and grandparents. Not even the symphony or fugue or sonata can...
How Universities Get To Define The Universe
Universities, more than any other institution, shape our conception of what constitutes worthwhile knowledge. Therefore, if we want philosophy to thrive in the contemporary...
Behold The Manifesto!
This is a form that asks readers to suspend their disbelief, and so like any piece of theater, it trades on its own vulnerability,...
Riccardo Muti at 80: Tired Of Life
"I’m tired of life, because this is a world that I no longer recognise and since I can’t expect the world to adapt to...
The Problem With Today’s Book Reviews
The main problem is that the contemporary American book review is first and foremost an audition — for another job, another opportunity, another day in the...
Why/How We Die Badly
Death catches too many of us unawares and unprepared these days, because we prefer to look away, to deny the approach of the one...
Blow To New Zealand’s Identity: Amazon Pulls Filming Of “Lord Of The Rings”
The move came as a blow to many in New Zealand. The production is one of the most expensive in history, with Amazon spending...
Resignation Over £6M Artificial Hill In London Park Meant To Lure Tourists
“With regret, I have accepted the resignation of my deputy leader, Melvyn Caplan, who led the mound project. We have also instigated a thorough...
Olympic TV Viewing Might Have Been Down, But Streaming Ratings Exploded
YouTube said, Olympics content was viewed more than 190 million times per day during Tokyo, five times more than the average daily views during...
The Extraordinarily Improbable Path To Publication For This Booker Nominee
After many rejections, An Island was published by tiny indie press Holland House in a print run of a mere 500 copies owing to the pandemic....
Twitter Changed Its Font. Users Aren’t Happy
The font that they’re calling Chirp is extremely similar to GT America, which is itself based on Franklin Gothic. They changed the spacing ever so...
