I spoke with Fatima Bhutto about the proliferation of bad men in public life, the dearth of good dogs in literature, and the shame she overcame to write her new memoir, The Hour of the Wolf. Hear our conversation on the @intelligence2.bsky.social podcast: open.spotify.com/episode/32qr...
We also talked about the difficulty of measuring the sweetness of Turkish coffee, the nihilism of AI fever-dreams, Gaza, Elizabeth Bishop, the Iliad, “Dirty Sally,” and why so many children's books start with running away from home.
I spoke with the warm, brilliant, original @ecetemelkuran.bsky.social about fascism, exile, and writing her way home. Hear our conversation on the @intelligence2.bsky.social podcast: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/f...
I'm so sad to see the evisceration of The Washington Post. It's continued to be a great newspaper even under terrible management. I loved writing for its books section. There was room for serious reviews that were searching, playful, adventurous, grumpy, and a little bit weird. What a loss.
"I was there. I was there. I was there. We were there." // That's the part where the lump came into my throat and wouldn't leave. A heartfelt, devastating portrait by @ashleyrparker.bsky.social @theatlantic.com
www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
Amazing thread!
📻the show is up📻 @brookegladstone.bsky.social speaks to @vermontgmg.bsky.social about the state of…everything. And @micahloewinger.bsky.social dives into ICE surveillance and recruitment with @josephcox.bsky.social and @drewharwell.com ITS A GOOD ONE 👉 www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm...
i wrote about watching it, about evidence, about witness.
www.newyorker.com/culture/on-t...
“Being a reader means cultivating a relationship with the world that, by most standards, can seem pointless and counterproductive.” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
In reality, there are lots of times when a familiar, open-ended (or seemingly stupid) interview question can be just the thing to nudge a conversation forward. But this is a fun tirade, 10/10, I thoroughly support it: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/01/o...
"When I hear people say the future of audio is essentially television, it makes me feel they never knew what was exciting about sound in the first place." www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
The kids and I had a real “driveway moment” with this episode about The Snowman this morning. We were about to leave the house but ended up just standing around the kitchen listening to the musicians talk about Howard Blake’s score: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
"He explained that 'these odd Narratives—half-report, half-imagined, half-science, half-fable, but with a fidelity of their own—are what I do, basically, to keep MY demons of boredom and loneliness and despair away.'" What a piece: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Anyway, the Appendix is a great read in its own right-- part time capsule, part feature-writing masterclass. And Susan's 2017 radio dispatch from the OrigamiUSA convention in Queens still holds up too: www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/tny...
Included in the book’s Appendix are a number of her pieces, including a marvelous profile of a 10-year-old boy living in New Jersey. Esquire had asked her to profile Macaulay Culkin but she convinced the editors it would be more interesting to write about a regular suburban kid.
Thanks to @theguardian.com for inviting me to review Susan Orlean’s new memoir, Joyride. It was a pleasure spending time with this book: www.theguardian.com/books/2025/d...
“Some complained about the effect of technology on students’ stamina for reading and interest in books. But more pointed toward the curriculum products their schools had purchased from major publishers.” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...
More on this great bit of reporting in the NYT: “This isn’t about managing scarcity or efficient markets,” she said. It’s about 'pushing to figure out the maximum amount you are willing to pay and squeeze it out of you.'" www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/b...
"I mean, in some ways, we’re all used to dynamic pricing ... when it comes to airline tickets and concerts and ride shares. But we’re not used to being charged different prices at different times for essential goods and services like food and groceries." crbreadandbutter.substack.com/p/shoppers-a...
New episode! On @intelligence2.bsky.social, I spoke with Simon Jenkins about why he wrote this new short history of America, why he hopes for the American experiment’s success, and what Britain might learn from the history of its wayward progeny across the pond. open.spotify.com/episode/4wUY...
(It's a good counter to this sort of creep.)
"In other words, men and women pay the same bill, but we are obligated to understand that the social and spiritual price it extracts from men is higher," Jessica Winter writes: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
I had a very nice time speaking with Olivia Laing about their new novel, The Silver Book-- an an anti-fascist noir thriller which also happens to be a love letter to Italian cinema. Hear our conversation on the @intelligence2.bsky.social podcast: open.spotify.com/episode/4VUG...
For this edition of ‘Brooding,’ parenting columnist Kathryn Jezer-Morton reflects on her own community and why parents need to let go to have a village of their own.
"I had been working at a flower stand on the side of the highway since 2008, but I wanted to be a sailor." This is too well-executed not to share: thebaffler.com/outbursts/th...
So exciting. Congrats to the Equator team for building a new home for sharp writing from around the world. I can't wait to dive into this beautifully designed first issue.
It was wonderful to be back in Charlottesville earlier this month to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the University of Virginia's Political and Social Thought program and reflect on all that it's given me-- and all it has to give future students: as.virginia.edu/news/politic...
I reviewed Malala Yousafzai's new memoir "Finding My Way" for the Guardian: www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...
Cringe “implies a kind of naïveté that so often gets coded as feminine,” wrote the New York Times columnist Lydia Polgreen, “a silly belief that human beings, through sincere effort, might actually improve themselves and the world.” Such a belief might seem uncool. But it can be a powerful tool with which to cut through the nihilism of Trump and those around him, which draws its power from its insincerity, its refusal to distinguish between truth and falsehood, its willingness to mock and degrade previously treasured beliefs. As one protest sign put it at a demonstration early in Trump’s second term: BE CRINGE. SHIT MATTERS.
👍 www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
