‘Doom’ Illustrates Niall Ferguson’s Historical Flaws
While historian Niall Ferguson’s broad survey of human catastrophe, Doom, has erudition, insight, and sweep, it is frequently derailed by contrarian carping.
politics
Nate Powell’s Graphic Non-Fiction ‘Save It for Later’ Urges Readers to Remember the Trump Era
Life during the destructive Trump era spurred a new level of activism. Nate Powell’s collection of comics essays, ‘Save It for Later’, wants to keep that fire going.
Cyber Republic: Reinventing Democracy in the Age of Intelligent Machines (excerpt)
Are you ready for the Fourth Industrial Revolution? Can you imagine, for example, a hospital completely made of software? These and other forthcoming changes to the workplace and the global economy are explored in this excerpt of George Zarkadakis' Cyber Republic, courtesy of MIT Press.
Kamala Harris’ 2020 VP Run Evokes Rod Lurie’s 2000 ‘The Contender’
Like The Contender's Laine Hanson 20 years prior, US Democratic Party Vice-President choice, Kamala Harris, cuts the oxygen feeding the US political climate's raging sexism.
Nicholas Buccola’s ‘The Fire Is Upon Us’ Is Obscured by the Smoke
Nicholas Buccola's The Fire Is Upon US is, at times, marred by glibness, impatience, and ahistorical tendencies that suggest, to an extent, it is also a reflective of the deteriorating conditions that mark our public discourse in 2020.
Laura Nyro’s “Save the Country” Calls Out from the Past
Laura Nyro, a witchy, queer, ethnic Russian Jew, died young, but her non-conformist anthem, "Save the Country", carries forth to these troubled times.
First Tragedy, Then Farce, Then What?
Riffing off Marx's riff on Hegel on history, art historian and critic Hal Foster contemplates political culture and cultural politics in the age of Donald Trump in What Comes After Farce?
How Lasting Is the Legacy of the Live 8 Charity Concert?
A voyage to the bottom of a T-shirt drawer prompts a look back at a major event in the history of celebrity charity concerts, 2005's Live 8, Philadelphia.
AIDS Play ‘The Normal Heart’ Is a Guide During COVID-19 and Political Indifference
When national leadership isn't addressing a pandemic as it should, Larry Kramer, as playwright and activist, pens the only viable response: "Everyone's entitled to good medical care. If you're not getting it, you've got to fight for it."
Parallels of HIV/AIDS in Tony Kushner’s ‘Angels in America’ and COVID-19 in Trump’s America
Tony Kushner's Angels in America foreshadows our current state of sick politics and bodies and, in particular, the presence of Trump in a time of plague.
Looking for the Next Best Version of America? Abrams Wrote the Book on How to Achieve It
"Try this at home": With her latest work, Our Time Is Now, Plotter-in-Chief Stacey Abrams offers a timely playbook for how to ensure free and fair elections in America.