Michiko Kakutani
The New York Times
New York, NY, United States
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Past articles by Michiko:
Obama, the Best-Selling Author, on Reading, Writing and Radical Empathy
He invited authors and historians to the White House and had already published a best-selling memoir. That didn’t make writing his latest book, “A Promised Land,” any less of a grind. → Read More
Op-Ed: Democracies around the world are under threat. Ours is no exception
Few democracies these days are killed by coups. They die when aspiring autocrats get elected and subvert democracy from inside. → Read More
Michiko Kakutani on Why Hannah Arendt is Essential Reading
As a child, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson recalled in a speech that he was the one in his family who wanted to read all the books in the → Read More
Coronavirus Notebook: Finding Solace, and Connection, in Classic Books
In this time of crisis, Michiko Kakutani writes, we are reminded that literature provides historical perspective, connecting us with others who lived through similar events. → Read More
Michiko Kakutani’s Manhattan Observations
Michiko Kakutani’s Manhattan Observations New York City during the pandemic → Read More
The 2010s Were the End of Normal
How social media, the Great Recession and Donald Trump combined to bring out the ‘indigenous American berserk.’ → Read More
Praise Be! ‘The Testaments,’ the Sequel to ‘The Handmaid’s Tale,’ Is Here
In her new novel, Margaret Atwood explores the intertwined fates of Offred, her daughters and Aunt Lydia. → Read More
Don’t rely on the coverage. Read the Mueller report.
The Mueller Report pulls together the facts of the Trump campaign and administration’s dealings with Russia, provides a lucid picture of how “the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion,” and leaves us with a devastating behind-the-scenes look at the Trump White House. It makes us remember that the […] → Read More
A Fantasy Set in Africa, by Way of Hieronymus Bosch, García Márquez and Marvel Comics
Michiko Kakutani reviews “Black Leopard, Red Wolf,” the first volume of Marlon James’s “Dark Star” trilogy. The novel is packed with dizzying references fused into something new and startling. → Read More
James Comey Has a Story to Tell. It’s Very Persuasive.
In “A Higher Loyalty,” the former F.B.I. director doesn’t mince words in describing his interactions with President Trump: “This president is unethical, and untethered to truth.” → Read More
Portrait of a Nigerian Marriage in a Heartbreaking Debut Novel
Ayobami Adebayo’s “Stay With Me,” like great works by Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, explores the pull between tradition and modernity in Nigeria. → Read More
‘Ants Among Elephants,’ a Memoir About the Persistence of Caste
Sujatha Gidla, who was born an untouchable in India but moved to the United States at 26, recounts how ancient prejudices persist today. → Read More
Edwidge Danticat Wrestles With Death, in Life and in Art
“The Art of Death” chronicles the death of the author’s mother, as well as the ways other writers, from Tolstoy to Didion, have treated the end of life. → Read More
In ‘The Retreat of Western Liberalism,’ How Democracy Is Defeating Itself
The Financial Times columnist Edward Luce finds that Trumpism and other nationalist movements are symptoms, not causes, of larger trends threatening democratic collapse. → Read More
Arundhati Roy’s Long-Awaited Novel Is an Ambitious Look at Turmoil in India
“The Ministry of Utmost Happiness” comes 20 years after Roy’s celebrated debut novel, “The God of Small Things.” → Read More
A Former F.B.I. Agent on Terrorism Since the Death of Bin Laden
In “Anatomy of Terror,” Ali Soufan writes about how Al Qaeda and the Islamic State have evolved in recent years. → Read More
Denis Johnson’s Poetic Visions of a Fallen World
In this author’s universe, hallucinatory imaginings bleed into daily life, where reality itself can seem like a fevered nightmare. → Read More
Digging to the Roots of Maurice Sendak’s Vision
In “There’s a Mystery There,” Jonathan Cott — with help from the playwright Tony Kushner, psychoanalysts and art historians — examines the influences and ideas in Sendak’s children’s books. → Read More
A Long, Long Look at Obama’s Life, Mostly Before the White House
David J. Garrow’s door-stopper of a biography contains a cascade of details that, our critic says, “never connect to form an illuminating portrait.” → Read More
‘Shattered’ Charts Hillary Clinton’s Course Into the Iceberg
Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes’s account of the 2016 presidential election depicts a dysfunctional Clinton campaign and the many mistakes it made. → Read More