5 Books to Keep Your Brain From Melting in July

By Huey Copeland

Twenty years of essays and interviews by the art historian Huey Copeland make up this book. They tend to circle around one theme: Black mothers and masculinity. Considering how maternal figures and feminist thought influenced the work of artists like David Hammons, Barkley L. Hendricks, Arthur Jafa, Glenn Ligon, Kerry James Marshall, and Sun Ra, and he interviews such venerable figures as Hilton Als, Thelma Golden, and Frank B. Wilderson, III.

By Roshan Sethi

It’s not every day that a job posting goes viral for being more emblematic of late capitalist hell than all the rest. But when artist Tom Sachs and former Gagosian director Sarah Hoover solicited someone to “make life easier for the couple in every way possible”—helping with everything from their “dog systems” to their “closet systems”—the satire all but wrote itself, betraying a tone-deafness stranger than fiction. With The Simp, Roshan Sethi took the bait, and changed the details.

By Jo Piazza

Few plot points are as irresistible as an art heist. The latest—from the bestselling author of The Sicilian Inheritance and Everyone Is Lying—is set in Paris, perfect for those who, months ago, were glued to the daytime theft at Louvre. Piazza’s tale stars the young widow Jo van Gogh, who inherited all the paintings by her brother-in-law, Vincent. Jo is the subject of another book out this autumn: The Widow Van Gogh by Joan Martelli.

By Eyal Weizman

Weizman has authored no shortage of books espousing the philosophy—and projects—that make up Forensic Architecture. For this book—his first with a trade press—he returns to his roots: the Israeli architect’s first major project involved studying how urban plans in Israel were designed to displace Palestinians, complicating access to water and roads. Since 2023, the group’s efforts have focused on producing evidence for the International Court of Justice’s case against Israel, research he details in this book.

By Yvonne Rainer et. al.

Few artists can claim clarity of thought like this avant-garde dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker. This book collects a lifetime of her writings: artist statements and lectures, but also reviews, essays, and letters to the editor—as well as key interviews with the likes of Lynne TIillman, Gregg Bordowitz, and Simone Forti.