Corona Tales: Life As an Indie Musician in 2020
Canadian Americana artist Lynne Hanson tells her tale of the Coronavirus Blues, one of canceled tour dates and diminished revenue prospects.
Economics
The Ghostliness of Mark Jenkin’s Post-Brexit Parable, ‘Bait’
Mark Jenkin's haunting Bait exhibits a ghostliness that complements the film's transient landscape of seasonal capital and short-term holiday lets.
‘Gloria Bell’: Silent Suffering and Disco Dancing in Late Capitalism
Gloria Bell painfully conveys that this economic system thrives on our isolation.
To the Vector the Spoils: On McKenzie Wark’s ‘Capital Is Dead’
In a brave new world dominated by platforms such as Facebook, Uber, and Airbnb, and marked by anxiety in the Age of the Anthropocene, McKenzie Wark's Capital Is Dead eschews digital utopianism for a sense of urgency that recognizes things have gotten serious.
The Book Every American Needs to Read: ‘Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People’
Award-winning lawyer Ben Crump's Open Season irrefutably documents how America's treatment of Black Americans and other minorities is indistinguishable from genocide.
Walking the Tightrope Between History and Memory in Japan: On Harootunian’s ‘Uneven Moments’
Harry Harootunian's essays on modern Japanese history, collected in Uneven Moments from Columbia University Press, reflect a lifetime of intellectual contributions and span a wide range of topics in Japanese history. The tension between the historical and the everyday is a recurrent and vital theme in his work.
Tsuge’s ‘The Man Without Talent’ Is a Perfect Manga Parable on Capitalism’s Failed Dreams
In The Man Without Talent, Tadao Tsuge captures the element of fantasy reflected in the childish utopianism of free market capitalism and the committed entrepreneurs who are its happy-go-lucky evangelists.
The Cigarette: A Political History (By the Book)
Sarah Milov's The Cigarette restores politics to its rightful place in the tale of tobacco's rise and fall, illustrating America's continuing battles over corporate influence, individual responsibility, collective choice, and the scope of governmental power. Enjoy this excerpt from Chapter 5. "Inventing the Nonsmoker".
Why Shouldn’t Public Transit Be Free?
Dozens of cities have abolished transit fares. Their experience makes a compelling argument more should follow suit.
Books/Culture/Economics/Featured: Top of Home Page/Features/Politics/PopMatters Picks/SAVE/ IGNORE: popular
When the Migrants Come to Collect Their Due: On Suketu Mehta’s ‘This Land Is Our Land’
Suketu Mehta offers a powerful, angry, and brilliant defense of immigrant rights in This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrant's Manifesto.
When Chicago Became a Shoppers’ Paradise for Women, Men Had to Step Aside
Creating a culture of consumption in 20th century Chicago meant making space for shoppers, which meant integrating women into public life, in a downtown dominated by men. Historian Emily Remus revels in the ramifications of that cultural shift in A Shoppers' Paradise.
