DTF St Louis Is An Utterly Original Drama of Male Loneliness Steven Conrad’s miniseries on HBO begins like a murder mystery, but turns into something weirder and more beautiful.

Does DTF ST. LOUIS have anything new to say about the stir-crazy horniness of middle-aged middle-class white people? Maybe.

But the *way* DTF ST. LOUIS says what it has to say is pretty special.

You should watch this show — I wrote about why for @newrepublic.com

newrepublic.com/article/2091...

Mine is 14 years old and still going strong

The Historian Who Wants to Imagine an Alternative to Capitalism Trevor Jackson traces the “dumb, inhuman logic” of endless growth over hundreds of years, and gestures at a better world.

Check out my latest in @newrepublic.com, wherein I review a brilliant, shockingly svelte history of capitalism (out now from
@wwnorton.com)!

Thanks, as always, to @lauramarsh.bsky.social for the incisive edits! newrepublic.com/article/2088...

Ben Lerner’s “Transcription” Is a Labyrinth of Allusions The author’s intricate, unsettling new novel is a book of echoes and parallels.

I reviewed Ben Lerner's new novel for @newrepublic.com

newrepublic.com/article/2073...

Nonfiction Publishing, Under Threat, Is More Important Than Ever Cuts in publishing and book reviewing imperil the future of narrative nonfiction, and our understanding of the world around us.

“In a would-be autocracy, even a small bookstore—with hundreds of books, classic, recent, and current—is a space of contrary narratives, where truth is recognized as both essential and complicated.”

newrepublic.com/article/2076...

Nonfiction Publishing, Under Threat, Is More Important Than Ever Cuts in publishing and book reviewing imperil the future of narrative nonfiction, and our understanding of the world around us.

My latest: an essay in The New Republic (@newrepublic.com) about our society's urgent and enduring need for narrative nonfiction, a.k.a. literary nonfiction or long fact -- nonfiction that’s based on reportage more than on personal experience or celebrity newrepublic.com/article/2076...

Fantastic piece of both cultural commentary and TV reviewing. Recommended highly.

Gavin Newsom’s Struggle For Everyman Cred “Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery” tries to recast a life of privilege in often baffling ways.

I read Gavin Newsom‘s memoir so that you don’t have to. Suffice it to say the book does not achieve what it sets out to do and I’m looking forward to everyone on bluesky being extremely normal on this subject.

This show is bad in ways that we really need to pay attention to. But, I watched it so you don't have to!

Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights Is Fan Fiction The new movie smooths out the novel’s difficulties and plays fast and loose with its romantic elements.

Give your lady what she *really* wants this Valentine’s Day — to read, like, and repost her WUTHERING HEIGHTS review for @newrepublic 💕

newrepublic.com/article/2063...

You don't think a book review can be must-read for people just trying to make political change? This one is. @daschloz.bsky.social spells out the vexed underlying dilemma of democratic (& Democratic) politics in a world where increasingly "the choirs & brass bands reach only into the educated base."

The Left Has a Hyperpolitics Problem While the left is often able to excite large numbers to protest, it fails to harness that energy to build lasting political power.

I reviewed Anton Jäger’s new book, Hyperpolitics, which I enjoyed. Lots to chew on in a small yellow volume. newrepublic.com/article/2058...

The Unexpected Charm of Is This Thing On? In A Star Is Born and Maestro, art tore through relationships. In Bradley Cooper’s new movie, it offers reconciliation.

Always love writing for @newrepublic / here’s my latest! 🎞️

newrepublic.com/article/2048...

What the American Revolution Owes the Rest of the World Historian Richard Bell’s new book traces global upheaval stretching from Philadelphia and London to Freetown and Madras.

Thrilled to be back in @newrepublic.com with a review of Richard Bell's The American Revolution and the Fate of the World. Thanks as always to @lauramarsh.bsky.social for the superlative editing!

newrepublic.com/article/2027...

yeah it's a really nice Christmas gift to wake up to a DM on mychart letting you know you're not going to be allowed medicine any more

A woman just days away from giving birth - someone who had active insurance! - was suddenly told she only had a three day window and would only be covered for a vaginal delivery

Hospital vs. Insurer Dispute Could Force Thousands to Switch Doctors (Published 2024)

We have been here before when Mount Sinai sought a 58% rate hike. www.nytimes.com/2024/03/14/n...

They're seeking a 50% rate hike. And because Anthem hasn't agreed, patients like me are going to be cut off from essential treatment with no instructions at all on how to get care after December 31.
This includes cancer patients, pregnant patients who won't know if they are covered to give birth...

Mount Sinai is once again playing chicken with its patients' lives and health

The Self-Delusions of Olivia Nuzzi’s American Canto Her memoir frequently shows an indifference toward truth, falsity, and meaning. In that way, it’s an artifact of our age.

I reviewed American Canto… newrepublic.com/article/2041...

Well it’s not long sentence, but I did get to write this essay for @newrepublic.com! I strongly encourage you to join us.

newrepublic.com/article/2015...

The New Deal Masterpieces Threatened by Trump’s D.C. Downsizing Your great-grandparents paid Ben Shahn and Philip Guston to create gorgeous public murals. Next year they could be rubble.

Nobody else is writing about this, so please re-post my two-part series about the imminent sale of what one expert calls “the Sistine Chapel of New Deal art.” Preservationists need to move fast.

Part one:

newrepublic.com/article/2010...

Part two:

newrepublic.com/article/2010...

Fit for Purpose? How Today’s Commercial Digital Platforms Subvert Key Goals of Public Education Digital educational platforms have become ubiquitous in American classrooms, with tools like Google Workspace for Education, Kahoot!, Zearn, Khan Academy, and many others now structuring curriculum, i...

Say it often, say it loud:

"Overall, research has not supported the common-sense presumption that digital approaches to schooling are better than non-digital alternatives. At the broadest level, widespread computer use in education has been found to be associated with lower student achievement."

I was in the midst of writing a nice, fluffy rave about s2 of PLATONIC for my Sept column when I decided I really wanted to write this instead — so, thanks to @lauramarsh.bsky.social for enabling a last-minute pivot.

Quick thread of the great journos and critics upon which this essay is built 1/x

Is Agnes Callard Making You Uncomfortable? In the philosopher’s world, provocation and controversy are inseparable from the examined life.

Kipnis on Agnes Callard:
newrepublic.com/article/1907...

Are Cell Phones Really Destroying Kids’ Mental Health? Jonathan Haidt once heralded an “ultrasocial” world. Now he’s one of social media’s most prominent critics.

I wrote about all the ways Jonathan Haidt gets it wrong and how early Haidt would not have been happy with later Haidt.

newrepublic.com/article/1903...

The Inimitable Weirdness of David Lynch The filmmaker, who died this week, mixed the menacing with the everyday, the banal with the surreal and sublime.

remembering David Lynch, for @newrepublic.com. newrepublic.com/article/1903...

“3 Body Problem”’s Failure of Imagination The new Netflix show faithfully adapts Liu Cixin’s bestselling novels but lacks imagination.

I feel really lucky that I have an editor (hi @lauramarsh.bsky.social) who has supported me writing a handful of essays about TV form this year. I'm proud of this one about 3 BODY PROBLEM and the sorry state of visual style on streaming television. newrepublic.com/article/1781...

my guess would be An American Sickness by Elisabeth Rosenthal (fwiw one of the most illuminating books I have read on health care...)