Andrew O’Hagan

The Darkroom of Propaganda

“It now shows in the lower depths of the Internet as well as on talk radio shows and a hundred perfidious podcasts, where the sleep of reason becomes a populist mania, and hostility a kind of sport.”

The Return of Trump—III

On abortion, labor, NatCon, the rise of authoritarianism, the darkroom of propaganda, and the threat of mass deportation. 

The Talented Mr. Santos

A man in perpetual flight from reality, George Santos invents stories about himself with no regard for believability.

Scorpion Party

Succession dispenses with the toys and horses of the media mogul family and goes straight to the “carnival of mind-fuck.”

Bigger, Deeper, and More ‘Fucked Up’

When asked why HBO took such bold risks on shows that were darker, more libidinal, and more surreal than those on other networks, a company executive replied, “Because we can.”

Riffraff

Billy Wilder’s evolution from interwar stylist to hard-bitten realist.

In the Act of Living

Hermione Lee, in her new biography of Tom Stoppard, has given shape to his quest for meaning, consciousness, history, and goodness.

Singing the Back Streets

‘Never a Lovely So Real: The Life and Work of Nelson Algren’ by Colin Asher

A Deep Dark Place

Macbeth Without Evil

He Changed the Game and Dared to Know

The Dark Dreams of William Burroughs

‘Maggie’

‘Beat Women’: An Exchange

Maggie

The moral legacy of Margaret Thatcher

Kerouac Crosses the Line

‘On the Road,’ again

Styron’s Choice

E.M. Forster: The Story of Affection

The Powers of Dr. Johnson

The Weather Makers