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Thirteen Ways of Looking at Bana al-Abed

Mary Bailey
California poet Mary Bailey captures the voice of a Syrian girl from Aleppo who, with assistance from her English-speaking mother, sent messages through Twitter documenting the siege of the city.

Long Past Due: Joan Wallach Scott's On the Judgment of History.

Scott McLemee Inside Higher Ed
Three efforts to right historical wrongs - Nuremberg Trials' prosecution of Nazi war crimes but not crimes against its own people, South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation established the former if not the latter, and today's demand for reparations.

Reclaiming “Populism”

L. Benjamin Rolsky Los Angeles Review of Books
In this new book, Thomas Frank is challenging himself, writes reviewer Rolsky, "to rescue the terms 'populism' and 'populist' from the mouths of those he deems unfit to use them: the anti-populists."

The Social Dilemma Fails to Tackle the Real Issues in Tech

Pranav Malhorta Slate
Toward the end of Netflix’s new documentary-drama The Social Dilemma, former Google employee Tristan Harris describes technology as “simultaneous utopia and dystopia.” This quote encapsulates the focus of the film.

Nuestra Nueva Casa

Philip C. Kolin New Verse News
Mississippi poet Philip C. Kolin links the corona virus to its tragic economic consequences.

The Novel and the Secret Police

Peter Coviello Boston Review
In Vineland, Thomas Pynchon's dour 1990 novel, the author of Gravity’s Rainbow anticipated a United States where all available definitions of freedom are channeled through security apparatuses understood as the greatest good. Sound familiar?