Latest
Groucho: The Comedy of Existence
May 27, 2016 "Groucho and his brothers are outlaws, outcasts, and singular reproaches to society's injustices and hypocrisies with deep roots in Jewish forms of irony and dissent,” author Lee Siegel writes The famous dance sequence with Harpo leading a troupe of black children and adults, often dismissed as “another instance of Hollywood racism, is, on the contrary, as strong a statement of racial equality as you can find on the world of film”.
Tom Brady – His Own Worst Enemy
May 2, 2016 The sports media were among the most surprised by the recent news that a four-game suspension was back on for the football star. But given Brady’s and the Patriots’ history, it really shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone.
A Conversation With Randy Roberts
Apr 1, 2016 Roberts, co-author of "Blood Brothers: The Fatal Friendship Between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X," the first book to examine the relationship between Ali and Malcolm, speaks with Allen Barra.
Trump’s Forgotten Failure: How He Helped Ruin a Football League
Mar 15, 2016 In the 1980s, the real estate mogul bought a team in the fledging United States Football League, promising "I'm going to build this team just like I built Trump Tower." That didn't happen. Instead, the league itself went into a death spiral as the man who is now a presidential contender made a series of bad decisions.
Honoring Marion Dougherty, Who Made Movie Stars but Often Got No Credit
Feb 28, 2016 The casting director, who died in 2011, discovered or jump-started the careers of many of today's biggest Hollywood names, and she was known for placing African-Americans in parts intended for white actors. Yet her own name is missing from many of her most famous projects.
Film Review: A Resolute ‘Race’ Through Jesse Owens’ Monumental Story
Feb 20, 2016 The movie paints in overly broad strokes, but it captures many of the facts about the history-making track athlete. It also offers a fine perspective on the racial politics of the 1930s and the burgeoning civil rights movement of that day.
A Conversation With Greil Marcus
Dec 25, 2015 Allen Barra sits down with cultural critic Greil Marcus to discuss “Real Life Rock,” a book compilation of Marcus’ “Real Life Rock Top Ten” columns written between 1986 and 2014, and “Three Songs, Three Singers, Three Nations,” his collection of William E. Massey Sr. Lectures in History of American Civilization 2013 at Harvard University.
Latest Readings
Sep 4, 2015 Clive James, the great cultural critic diagnosed with leukemia in 2010, revisits a lifetime of reading in his latest, and perhaps last book: “If you don’t know the exact moment when the lights will go out, you might as well read until they do.”Albert Camus: Past and Present
Feb 13, 2015 Camus remains the writer who always speaks to individuals, never to groups. He remains perpetually relevant without ever quite being fashionable.
Does ESPN Have Room for Free Speech and ‘Monday Night Football’?
Oct 16, 2014 Popular sports commentator Bill Simmons was suspended by ESPN for violating editorial standards -- or was it because he criticized the NFL, which happens to have a $15 billion contract with the network?Popular sports commentator Bill Simmons was suspended by ESPN for violating editorial standards—or was it because he criticized the NFL, which happens to have a $15 billion contract with the network?