A Saturday grab bag: The 2026 Autumnal Equinox edition
Links to stories and music from a few writers and musicians I follow who have important things to say.
All posts filed under: The Times We Live In
Addressing the challenges of our polarized times
An eternal struggle
Every advance in equality must contend with forces of reaction. America is an eternal struggle.
The singularity of consciousness
A dreamy, haunting, and evocative novella about a young girl’s year in the Austrian countryside.
Six beverages and the shaping of human destiny
Beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola tell the story of humanity.
Molded by the past, yet inevitably changed by the future
Molly Crabapple’s story of the Jewish Bund is an ambitious yet flawed work of discovery and history.
So you want to find a treasure?
Elizabeth Buchanan looks at why despots over the centuries have tried—and failed—to own Greenland.
The wages of erasure is reenactment
My conversation with Wright Thompson, author of the award-winning book “The Barn.”
Trading complexity for the easier path of nostalgia and remembrance
Charles King’s fascinating history of Odessa is both a celebration and an elegy.
Whitewashing history won’t make America great
The whitewashing and bulldozing of our history seeks to serve the vision of a small group of powerful people.
Why not?
Building a robust sense of the common good comes about in part by asking ourselves tough questions.
MORE TO COME... 