Interview Nadia Nurhussein on Black Land February 10, 2020 As the only African nation, with the exception of Liberia, to remain independent during the colonization of the continent, Ethiopia has long held significance for and captivated the imaginations of African Americans. Read More
Essay Craigslist鈥檚 lessons for a weirder, more ethical internet February 07, 2020 When I first started teaching undergrad courses on the internet and society, it was 2010.聽 Back then, students usually walked into the classroom with a fairly positive attitude about digital technology.聽 They saw the internet as a vital tool for democracy, an important way to network for future jobs and connect with their friends.聽 Read More
Essay James Baldwin鈥檚 reckless idea February 06, 2020 In 1961 James Baldwin found himself in the studios of WBAI radio in New York, looking into the eyes of Malcolm X. Malcolm was, by then, the most recognizable face associated with the Nation of Islam (NOI), a religious sect that was inspiring hope in the hearts of some and fear in the hearts of others. Read More
Essay The smart move: we learn more by trusting than by not trusting February 05, 2020 We all know people who have suffered by trusting too much: scammed customers, jilted lovers, shunned friends. Indeed, most of us have been burned by misplaced trust. These personal and vicarious experiences lead us to believe that people are too trusting, often verging on gullibility. Read More
Essay Getting to know Nat Turner February 03, 2020 Nat Turner is known to history as a thirty-year-old Virginia slave who led a bloody rebellion that resulted in the death of fifty-five whites, mostly women and children.聽 Beyond that, he is famous for being well-nigh unknowable.聽 Read More
Interview By Design | Sunnis and Shi鈥檃: A Political History January 31, 2020 A typographic cover design poses a unique challenge. Unlike book covers that avail themselves of rich imagery, an all-type cover has to articulate a book鈥檚 subject with a greater economy of means. Read More
Essay Donald and Winston at the Ministry of 鈥ˋlternative Facts January 31, 2020 Is George Orwell the most influential writer who ever lived? Yes, according to John聽Rodden鈥檚 provocative book about the transformation of a man into a myth.聽 Read More
Essay Why we need snarky book reviews鈥攁ccording to reviewers January 23, 2020 In 2010, the Huffington Post compiled a list of 鈥淭he Five Meanest Book Reviews Ever: Franzen, Foer, Larson, and more.鈥澛燭he chart included some real zingers. Read More
Interview Fei-Hsien Wang on Pirates and Publishers January 22, 2020 In聽Pirates and Publishers, Fei-Hsien Wang reveals the unknown social and cultural history of copyright in China from the 1890s through the 1950s, a time of profound sociopolitical changes. Read More
Essay Melancholy, remorse, and resignation in a year of Communist anniversaries January 17, 2020 Vanguard of the Revolution聽is a sweeping history of one of the most significant political institutions of the modern world. The communist party was a revolutionary idea long before its supporters came to power.聽 Read More
Essay What do you really know about gullibility? January 08, 2020 Not Born Yesterday explains how we decide who we can trust and what we should believe鈥攁nd argues that we鈥檙e pretty good at making these decisions. Read More
Interview Robert Frank on Under the Influence January 07, 2020 Psychologists have long understood that social environments profoundly shape our behavior, sometimes for the better, often for the worse. But social influence is a two-way street鈥攐ur environments are themselves products of our behavior. Read More
Essay For the beauty of invisibility January 06, 2020 Human beings are naturally visual creatures. Our eyes, capable of counting single photons, have been optimized over evolutionary time to the very limits of the laws of physics. Read More
Essay Roger F. Pasquier on Birds in Winter December 20, 2019 The recent report from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society that there are today in the United States and Canada 29.4 billion fewer birds than the estimated 100 billion estimated as present fifty years ago is sobering news. Read More
Essay Philip Freeman on聽Cicero, Star Wars, and the Stoic Idea of God December 13, 2019 Ancient Rome was a wildly diverse and exotic place. As I tell the students in my college classes, if you want to get a feel for what Rome was like, watch Star Wars. Read More
