murder

‘Kish Mir in Tuchus!’

Before his violent early death at twenty-five, the Jewish Belgian artist Stéphane Mandelbaum assembled a body of confrontational drawings. 

February 25, 2024

'Sharp Objects' & Damaged Women

There is much to recommend Sharp Objects: its visual language is rich, and rewards close watching. But the dissatisfying conclusion of the show speaks to a larger confusion in the aim of the series.

August 30, 2018

Bo Xilai: The Mysteries

The word “embarrassment” has been used around the world in press reports about the murder charges against Bogu Kailai, the wife of disgraced Chinese official Bo Xilai. But I doubt that anything as mild as embarrassment is what fills the minds of Party leaders in Beijing. Much more is at stake. What did Bo Xilai’s police chief Wang Lijun tell the Americans, and what agreement did the Americans make with Chinese authorities when they released Wang to their custody? Normally the Communist Party completely suppresses news of murders and other “embarrassments.” The fact that it decided to make a public announcement in this case must be, at least in part, because the Americans hold information that they could, if they wanted, divulge.

August 2, 2012