in Culture Digest | 16 FEB 18

Weekend Reading List: The Year of the Dog in a Dog-Eat-Dog World

What to read this weekend: reflections on the canine; Ta-Nehisi Coates’s journey; and a secretive NYPD task force closing down music venues

in Culture Digest | 16 FEB 18

Tim Smith-Laing on what an exhibition of Charles I’s art collection at London’s Royal Academy tells us about royalty’s private pleasures.
‘As long as Coates is indifferent to the links between race and international political economy, he is more likely to induce relief than guilt among his white liberal fans.’ Pankaj Mishra on Ta-Nehisi Coates, Obama and pro-war liberal intellectuals.
'It is the end for any venue that it happens to. It’s like death. It’s like the grim reaper.’ Liz Pelly investigates the NYPD task force which deploys SWAT-style raids to shut down music venues.
'We may not know why we kiss, but we do it all the time, which is disturbing in itself.’ Kristen Roupenian (yes, author of Cat Person) on writing about kissing.
With the arrival of Black Panther, the first superhero film to feature a black lead since 1998's Blade, a selection of frieze essays on the rich history of black comic book culture.
And finally, Geremie R. Barmé welcomes in Chinese New Year with some reflections on the meaning of the canine, Maoist propaganda, and a woodblock print by the Chinese artist Huang Yongyu.