Why John Dewey Should Matter to Historians

The role of knowledge and truth in the Constitutional order was Dewey’s central project

This essay was originally published on May 6 2019. These Truths: A History of the United States is the book that Henry Steel Commager tried to write forty years ago, but did not. Commager’s 1979 volume, Empire of Reason, took seriously the Enlightenment foundation for the nation, but his account of the many ...
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An Interview from a Women’s Shelter in Addis Ababa

The broker could’ve easily bought her a plane ticket directly to Tripoli, but then, of course, he wouldn’t have made as much money

We are proud to introduce Huddled Masses, a journal of writing and arts on the themes of Migration and Mobility sponsored by the Zolberg Institute and published in partnership with Public Seminar. Our goal is to provide the middle ground, to bridge the gap between the academic journal and the news, to raise ...
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An Interview from a Women’s Shelter in Addis Ababa

The Universal Memoir: An Interview with Nora Krug

The NBCC autobiography award winner on Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home

In March, The New School hosted this year’s National Book Critics Circle awards, which honor literature published in the United States in the previous year. The awards are presented in six categories -- autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry -- and are the only U.S. literary awards chosen by critics themselves. MFA ...
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The Universal Memoir: An Interview with Nora Krug

No ‘Fringe’ About It: An Interview with Arte Público Press

The NBBC award-winning press on publishing Latino authors in the United States

In March 2019, The New School hosted the National Book Critics Circle awards, which honor literature published in the United States in the previous year. The awards are presented in six categories -- autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry -- and are the only U.S. literary awards chosen by ...
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No ‘Fringe’ About It: An Interview with Arte Público Press

The Blessing of Invisible Pain

An Interview with Ada Limón

In March, The New School hosted this year’s National Book Critics Circle awards, which honor literature published in the United States in the previous year. The awards are presented in six categories -- autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry -- and are the only U.S. literary awards chosen by critics themselves. Victoria ...
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The Blessing of Invisible Pain

A Complex Balance

The Boeing 737 MAX Crashes

The recent tragic crashes of Boeing 737 MAX airliners have raised concerns that commercial aircraft are too complicated to operate due to the increasingly complex technologies involved. Notably, Donald Trump tweeted “Airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly. Pilots are no longer needed, but rather computer scientists from MIT.” Others disagree, saying technology ...
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A Complex Balance

The Moby Dick Problem of War: An Interview with Steve Coll

The NBCC nonfiction award winner on Directorate S: The CIA and America’s Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan

In March, The New School hosted this year’s National Book Critics Circle awards, which honor literature published in the United States in the previous year. The awards are presented in six categories -- autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry -- and are the only U.S. literary awards chosen by ...
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The Moby Dick Problem of War: An Interview with Steve Coll

Asymmetric Legality

The Invisibility of High-Tech Violence in Afghanistan

The decision by the International Criminal Court’s pre-trial chamber to not authorize a full investigation into the “situation” in Afghanistan has served as a reminder that international criminal justice is political: it depends on political support and it shapes political debates about armed conflict, violence, and justice. Yet a closer ...
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Asymmetric Legality

Writing Life Under Pressure

An Interview with Anna Burns

In March, The New School hosted this year’s National Book Critics Circle awards, which honor literature published in the United States in the previous year. The awards are presented in six categories -- autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry -- and are the only U.S. literary awards chosen by critics themselves. Milkman is ...
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Writing Life Under Pressure

The One Who Writes Books

Eric Hoffer and the Perks of Being Self-taught

We don’t know much about Hoffer’s first decades of life, up to his forties. The only available markers came through his voice only and they were full of inconsistencies. Many biographers have had difficulties with identifying the real pre-Longshoreman Philosopher Eric Hoffer (see Tom Bethell’s Eric Hoffer, Genius—And Enigma). He had ...
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Ancestry.com, Vigilante Border Patrol Groups, and Cargo Shorts

Past Present Episode 177

In this episode, Neil, Niki, and Natalia discuss outrage over an Ancestry.com ad, vigilante groups policing the U.S.-Mexico border, and the controversy over cargo shorts. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Ancestry.com released – and quickly pulled – an advertisement depicting a romantic relationship between an African-American woman ...
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Ancestry.com, Vigilante Border Patrol Groups, and Cargo Shorts

Permanent Mystifications

The Story of Post-Conceptual Art in Slovakia

Prague City Gallery’s “Probe 1: The Story of Slovak (Post)Conceptual Art” (12th December 2018 - 24th March 2019) came and went unnoticed. This is hardly surprising, despite the prime location of the museum’s 13th-century Stone Bell House site: a corner of the Old Town Square beneath the piercing spires of the Church ...
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Permanent Mystifications