Culture

Best of Salon 2008 Best of Salon 2008

PUMAs on the prowl; an apology to boomers; the books that made Obama, Obama; hooray for casual sex -- and more of our favorite stories of the year.
  • Bargain gifts for the culture vulture

    Because it's boring to just buy "Kung Fu Panda" or "Incredible Hulk."
  • Talkin' bout my generation

    A new book argues that the baby boomers were a "greater generation" than the one that beat the Depression and Hitler. But what did we really do?
  • The death of Al Mutanabbi Street

    Iraqi culture was reborn when Saddam fell, only to die again. A report from Baghdad's fear-haunted literary cafes.
  • The mouse who would be king

    Disney's ever-expanding copyright powers are threatening to squash everyone's cultural creativity. As two new books compellingly argue, the time is ripe for more anarchy, and fewer lawyers.
  • New from Weber ... Girls!

    Barbecuing needs feminism like grilled fish needs a bicycle.
  • The man from Neen

    Miltos Manetas, who sent 23 invisible U-Haul trucks to the Whitney Biennial, explains the "art" movement that's out to change the way we perceive technology, intellectual property and moving vans.
  • Tummy talk

    Belly dancing is deemed pornographic by Egyptians, but more foreign women are taking up the art.
  • Why we travel

    It whirls you around, turns you upside down and stands everything you took for granted on its head.
  • Ode to "Joy"

    The sacred text of the kitchen has a powerful and lasting resonance.
  • Celebrating Switzerland

    Savoring rvsti, fondue and the legacy of William Tell.
  • China good? China bad?

    Nothing is simple in Tibet.
  • Is culture endangered in the digital age?

    Is culture endangered in the digital age? By Chris Bray Ironies abound at a Los Angeles conference pondering the future of museums and libraries
  • Paris's cafe renaissance

    For centuries they have been the stomach and soul of the city, but today the cafes of Paris are enjoying a renaissance. Wanderlust's man in Paris, David Downie, reports on the new scene in the City of Caffeine.
  • Ignorants abroad

    An American expatriate weathers the slings and arrows of learning another language.
  • Blinded in the desert

    Hospitality and hostility become blurred for a traveler stranded among Bedouins at the desolate tip of the Sinai.
  • Newsreal: The fame economy

    What's good for Michael Jordan is good for America
  • Middlebrowbeaten

    Earnestly clutching his list of Improving Books, the hapless middlebrow can't get no respect. But even culture on the installment plan is better than no culture at all.
  • Dixie Rising

    Paige Williams reviews Peter Applebome's book "Dixie Rising: How the South Is Shaping American Values, Politics and Culture".
  • The Awful Truth

    You want art? Look through the hole in the token, jiveasses
  • Heart of Darkness

    Anthropologist Philippe Bourgois went deeper into America's crack culture than anyone before him. Too deep.

From Salon's blogs