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Naomi Klein on Trump: The Master of Disaster

Hari Kunzru The Guardian
Naomi Klein, the author of No Logos and other sharp critiques of capitalist culture and power, offers in her latest publication an in-depth elaboration of the book's title and a call-to-arms for a resistance that goes beyond criticism of Trump's malign politics to the need for mobilization on hundreds of viable and necessary fronts.

Hot Stuff: Spicy Foods and the Compelling Chemistry of Chemesthesis

Paul Adams Cook's Science
There are at least 200 compounds contributing to the flavor of chiles and they all have a different effect. Capsaicin is the most common, first to be discovered, and hottest of the capsaicinoid family, but every chile contains a somewhat different mix of capsaicin, dihydrocapsaicin, nordihydrocapsaicin, homodihydrocapsaicin, nornordihydrocapsaicin, and quite a few others.

Why Don’t Brown Women Deserve Love Onscreen?

Nadya Agrawal Kajal Magazine
“Brown men aren’t scared of brown women, they are scared of being boring and predictable if they end up with one,” Shriya Samarth, a media junkie and friend, told me over the phone. “Whereas brown women can genuinely fear the expectations of being a daughter-in-law, brown wife, etc.”

Quick Write 1968

Sandra Anfang Portside
The late 1960s, a moment of awakening and consciousness raising, emerges in Sandra Anfang’s surprising poem about a good teacher and an eager student.

Down From the Mountain: Venezuela's Chavez

Greg Grandin London Review of Books
Hugo Chavez, with Ignacio Ramonet, Chavez: My First Life (translated by Ann Wright) Verso, 544 pp, Hardback, $36.00, August 2016, ISBN 978 1 78478 383 9 A balanced look at the early days and years in power of Venezuelan general cum President Hugo Chavez, who, while widely accused of authoritarian practices against his opposition, was singular among Latin American populist leaders in never aligning with the nation's bourgeoisie or turning on his left allies.

W. E. B. Du Bois's Revolutions

Phillip Luke Sinitiere Public Books
A new book examines Du Bois's radicalism, tracing its career-long development.

Inside a Bestselling Syrian Cookbook From the 13th Century

Hannah Walhout Food & Wine Magazine
This 13th centure cookbook of Syrian recipes shows us the opulent upper limits of the cuisine from those who cooked and ate it—chefs developing recipes, explorers discovering ingredients, the wealthy elite who demanded luxury and ingenuity.