Arts in Society

Boston Review’s Arts in Society section publishes poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and criticism. It focuses on how the arts loosen the hold of convention, bear witness to injustice, provoke new ways of seeing the world, and speak to the most pressing political and civic concerns of our time.

Browse by Genre

Criticism, Poem, Memoir, Short Story

Browse Criticism by Topic

Fiction, Film and TV, Literature, Music, Poetry, Visual Art

Response to Race and the Poetic Avant-Garde

  • Erica Hunt

Two Poems

  • Yusef Komunyakaa

Microreview: Rob Schlegel, January Machine

  • Jeff Alessandrelli

Girl with Ox

  • Paula Bohince

Vignettes Urbanes

  • Elizabeth Whittlesey

Into Darkness

Nature, Risk, and the Birth of Creativity

  • Jenny Hendrix

Sign up for our newsletter

When Tony Hoagland Says My Maternal Instincts Are Impressive

  • Jenny Browne

Microreview: Martha Silano, Reckless Lovely

Poems that begin with a bang.

  • Lisa K. Perdigao

“Poetry Makes Nothing Happen”

W. H. Auden’s struggle with politics.

  • Robert Huddleston

For Americans, Science and Religion Are Largely Compatible

It is when science directly touches faith that the conflict flares up.

  • Claude S. Fischer

France after Charlie Hebdo

France’s own political traditions can accommodate visible Islam and heal social divisions.

  • John R. Bowen
with responses from
  • Didier Fassin
  • Arthur Goldhammer
  • Haroon Moghul
  • Joan Wallach Scott
  • Joseph Massad
  • Mayanthi L. Fernando
  • Michèle Lamont & Nicolas Duvoux
  • David D. Laitin
  • Maleiha Malik

White Noise

  • Eric Amling

The Ugly Truth

Even if the facts are wrong, the feelings in Selma are right.

  • Alan A. Stone

Microreview: Maureen McLane, This Blue

  • Robert Schnall

Poet’s Sampler: Nicholas Shapland

Introduced by Kathleen Ossip

  • Nicholas Shapland

The First Marriage

  • Kimberly Grey

[So, the day will become a small boat]

  • Monica Berlin
  • Beth Marzoni

There Was a Fox in the Bedroom

  • Daisy Johnson

Microreview: Sawako Nakayasu, The Ants

Poems that make a tiny insect the center of the world. 

  • Jennifer Kronovet

Secret Threshing

  • KMA Sullivan

An Anatomy of Outrage

Outrage tactics such as the ‘hate retweet’ have value, even if they risk elevating the worst voices.

  • Andrew Mayersohn

Nuances of a Theme After Stevens After Williams

  • Micah Bateman

Get Lost

Caroline Bergvall's Drift.

  • Dana Levin

American Sniper: Patriotism Is Personal

Patriotism, as brilliant as the gold tridents pounded into a SEAL’s coffin lid, outshines all flaws.

  • Judith Levine
trending_flat
Get our newsletter

Vital reading on politics, ideas, and culture to your inbox

A political and literary forum, independent and nonprofit since 1975

Registered 501(c)(3) organization

Help Us Stay Paywall-Free

Donate

Become a Member

Subscribe