Thomas Mallon
Recent articles by Thomas Mallon
Across the Universe
Finding intelligent life in the cosmos requires leaving the solar system. One group of scientists may have found a way.
Theirs Truly: The Lowell-Bishop Letters
The letters between Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop are one of the great poetic correspondences of all time—and became the real essence of their relationship.
‘I Am Joan Crawford’
Through sheer force of will, Hollywood’s most infamous single mother constructed a persona seductive, repellent, and almost impossible not to watch.
Faster, Faster
Noël Coward’s dizzying life.
A Knoll of One’s Own
The most exhaustive book yet written about the Kennedy assassination should lay the conspiracy theories to rest once and for all—but it won’t.
New Fiction
Acceptance, by Susan Coll.
No Ordinary Tome
Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goodwin's much anticipated book about Abraham Lincoln, marks her return to the arena after a devastating scandal. Throughout her personal trials, Goodwin says, Lincoln himself proved to be a major source of consolation.
Darling Me
Christopher Isherwood followed Oscar Wilde's prescription for lifelong romance by falling in love with himself—over and over again.
Hoosiers
The lost world of Booth Tarkington.
Princess of Discrimination
Shirley Hazzard's masterly descriptions and expertly drawn characters are in full evidence in this new novel—her first in more than twenty years.
California Catholics
Maile Meloy's first novel uses gaudy old-time religion to string together a sweeping family narrative.
Still Growing
Michael Byers' first novel, though ambitious and often engaging, suggests that he hasn't yet made the leap from short stories.
Going to Extremes
Richard Powers is getting bigger and more ponderous. Nicholson Baker is getting smaller and more evanescent. Decision: Baker.
"Our Saint, Our Umpire"
An appreciation of Mary McCarthy, whose literary and political writing is well represented in a new anthology.
Playing Nick Carraway
A new biography of John F. Kennedy Jr. is less a book than a TV-movie script.
William Kennedy's Greatest Game
Roscoe has a lyricism and a gusto rarely achieved in serious American novels about politics.
Hustler with a lyric voice
Edna St. Vincent Millay combined a modern sensibility with traditional forms.