The tweet pinned to the top of Jonathon Chait’s Twitter feed reads as follows:
“Why President Obama’s legacy was broader and deeper than you think, and why it will endure.”
“They who have put out the people’s eyes reproach them of their blindness.”
The quote comes from John Milton. It was used in the beginning of the Noam Chomsky media critique documentary “Manufacturing Consent.” I do not remember much of…
1.) Elizabeth Warren claims Bernie Sanders told her a woman could not be president. The particulars of the alleged statement, which Bernie denies making, are left murky. Did he claim a woman could not be elected president because of the misogyny of the…
Many commentators on the center and center left are reveling in Corbyn’s defeat. For them, it is a harbinger for a Sanders’ nomination. There are a number of reasons why I think this is wrong.
I am a supporter of Bernie Sanders. I’ve donated money, volunteered for his phone banks, and plan to do work on the ground when his campaign begins holding more events in my state early next year.
Alexandra Kleeman’s “You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine” is an insightful novel. While consciously “literary” and postmodern, the novel is also, at least in my reading, deeply felt. The writing is intelligent without being…
I liked Eileen, by Ottessa Moshfegh, up until the end. The decision to have the title character narrate from a forty year distance made sense. Eileen’s navel gazing would have been puerile had it not been broken up by the more experienced perspective of her older self.
Jordan Peterson is a difficult figure for me to process.
I disagree strongly with his political views. He conflates psychology with politics unfairly.
George Saunder’s “Lincoln in the Bardo” is an interesting read from the lens of western infatuation with Buddhist thought. I’ve read several books on Buddhism (mostly on the less theologically heavy, Zen variety), but none esoteric enough that they explain the Bardo. I had to…
I just finished Don Delillo’s Libra. Not a bad read. The subject matter accentuated Dellilo’s strengths as a writer, his skill at describing spectacle and mining a sense of collective doubt, while buffering against his weakness, emotionally…