The world has been obsessed with superheroes since at least 1938, when DC Comics launched Superman. Since then, like Spiderman, Captain America, Wonder Woman, and the Fantastic Four, Superman has been— with uncommon strength and virtue—a leading superhero archetype. The popularity of superhero comics is cyclical, often surging during war, perhaps why they are flourishing once again. The Incredible Hulk, Batman, and Iron Man battle evil in Hollywood this year. This month, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York opens “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy,” an exhibit that celebrates their glamorous haute couture…
“Everything was shocking, everything was new,” says Adnan, an Iraqi translator working for the Americans in George Packer’s first-time play “Betrayed“. “But that was before.” New Yorker writer George Packer’s “Betrayed” takes a look at Iraq through “before” and “after” lenses, illuminating the lives of Iraqis who have risked everything for the Americans, only to [...]
At 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning, students wait anxiously to be buzzed in through the heavy, wrought-iron gates at 142 Rua Dr. Gabriel dos Santos. Beyond lies a large, colonial house with a broad, wrap-around veranda. As students march upstairs to the old-fashioned classrooms, the wide-plank steps creak noisily underfoot. By 3p.m., schooled in [...]
Trivia question: what do the Ploof restaurant in New Dehli, the Divan Hotel in Istanbul and the Elks Club in Panama City have in common with the Eurasia Foundation in Kiev and a Starbucks in Nongkhai, Thailand? Answer: they were all “worldwide voting centers”—hotspots of participatory democracy U.S. style, where votes were recently cast for [...]
