Hillbilly Elegy Tries, and Fails, to Understand the Working Class
In 2016 Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance’s memoir of growing up in rural Ohio, became a bestseller in no small part due to the idea that it could “explain” the average…
Excerpt: Autonomous by Annalee Newitz
Earth, 2144. Jack is an anti-patent scientist turned drug pirate, traversing the world in a submarine as a pharmaceutical Robin Hood, fabricating cheap scrips for poor people who can’t otherwise…
Martha Wells, “Rogue Protocol: The Murderbot Diaries”
Wells has incorporated aspects of herself in Murderbot, a fact that resonates with readers. “I have some problems with anxiety and OCD and I’ve put those into the character… and…
The 7 Scariest Little Girls in Literature
What makes the scary little girl so sensational? Films, especially, come back to the vacant-eyed and terrifying child again and again: from Wednesday Addams to the Shining twins, they stare…
In “Body Horror,” Anne Elizabeth Moore Examines How Consumer Feminism Is Failing Us — and Is Itself Failing
Just a month ago, in March, an exposé on the cheeky (sorry) period-underwear brand Thinx (by Hilary George-Parkin for Racked) sent a certain group of the feminist mainstream — young,…
In “Body Horror,” Anne Elizabeth Moore Examines How Consumer Feminism Is Failing Us — and Is Itself Failing
The collection appears to jump at random from interest to interest — within four essays, she goes from discussing the birth of Standard Time, to revenge-fantasy horror movies, to snake…
Let’s Talk about Books
In which John recommends some of his favorite fiction, poetry, and nonfiction reading of the year. Books discussed in this video include: The Hate U Give by Angie ThomasThe Inexplicable…
Neil deGrasse Tyson Selects the Eight Books Every Intelligent Person on the Planet Should Read
How to “glean profound insight into most of what has driven the history of the western world.”
Your Silence Will Not Protect You by Audre Lorde review – prophetic and necessary
The black lesbian feminist writer and poet, who died 25 years ago, is better known than ever, her words often quoted in books and on social media {read}
Homage to Catalonia – George Orwell
Though the POUM were socialists, he wrote “as far as my purely personal preferences went I would have liked to join the Anarchists."His vivid descriptions of classless anarchist Barcelona following…