Review: The Florida Novels of Charles Willeford
“Just tell the truth, and they’ll accuse you of writing black humor.”
Book Reviews
Review of "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes"
The new movie is a compelling film version of Suzanne Collins' prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy.
How a Law No One Understands Brought Down Florida Drug 'Kingpins'
Jordan S. Rubin's Bizarro tells the story of the men who tried and failed to challenge the government's arbitrary rules on synthetic drugs.
Science Fiction, Science Fact: Puzzle #19
"Basis of some COVID-19 vaccine technology"
Janet Reno Is No Hero
A new biography by Judith Hicks Stiehm ignores Janet Reno's many failures as attorney general.
Virginia Postrel & Jim Pethokoukis: How To Get a Great Future
A conversation about economics, progress, science fiction—and kitchen gadgets.
Review: The Cross Florida Barge Canal That Never Was
Libertarians will read Ditch of Dreams as a story about bureaucracy and environmentalism run amok.
Sandra Newman: Reimagining 1984 from Julia's Perspective
At the behest of George Orwell's estate, the acclaimed novelist has brilliantly recast his most famous work.
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off Slyly Remixes the Cult Film's View of Romance and Autonomy
What if Ramona Flowers bears some responsibility for creating her seven "evil exes" in the first place?
The Best of Reason: Milton Friedman Was No Conservative
A new Friedman biography ably explores the economist's ideas but sidesteps the libertarian movement he was central to.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Is a Decadent Hunger Games Retread
Sharp world building and a strong central performance can't save this dystopian disappointment.
The Good Samaritans Who Saved Syrian Refugees
When government relief efforts fail, individuals step up.
Review: Ahsoka Rejects Star Wars' Good-vs.-Evil Binary
George Lucas divided his universe into light and dark. Dave Filoni is dissolving that worldview.
Milton Friedman Was No Conservative
A new Friedman biography ably explores the economist's ideas but sidesteps the libertarian movement he was central to.
The Marvels Is the Tedious Culmination of a Lot of Superhero Homework
In the director's own words, this is "a sequel to five different things."
Review: Inside New York's 20th Century Psychotherapeutic Cult
The Sullivan Institute trapped members and broke up families.
Mitt Romney, Like So Many NeverTrumpers, Was Hobbled by His Own Grubby Political Ambitions
The Mormon wing of the conservative #Resistance turned out to be just as fallible as the hawks and libertarians.
The Best of Reason: Did Evolution Give Us Free Will?
Free Agents author Kevin J. Mitchell makes a neuroscientific case against determinism.
Rachel Maddow's Prequel Is a Deceptively Framed History of the Radical Right
The book blames foreign subversives for ideas long rooted in American life.
Inside a 20-Year Effort To Clean Up the Oakland Police Department
The Riders Come Out at Night frames it as a hopeful sign that police reform is possible.
Did Evolution Give Us Free Will?
Author Kevin J. Mitchell makes a neuroscientific case against determinism.
Review: They Cloned Tyrone Draws on Old CIA Conspiracy Theories
The political commentary in Netflix's sci-fi comedy isn't exactly subtle.
Review: Not Everyone Liked the New Deal
Amity Shlaes anthologizes Franklin D. Roosevelt’s critical contemporaries.
Review: Silo Shows the Perils of Authoritarian Hierarchies
Leaders depicted in the Apple TV+ series outlaw "relics" of the past, even including PEZ dispensers.
The Best of Reason: Power and Progress Is a Wrongheaded Critique of Tech Progress
An undercurrent of the book is that common people want whatever progressive intellectuals want them to want.
Power and Progress Is a Wrongheaded Critique of Tech Progress
An undercurrent of the book is that common people want whatever progressive intellectuals want them to want.
Free Market Book Misstates the History of Free Market Thought
Author Jacob Soll's commitment to an untenable historical thesis distorts the facts.
Review: The Big Break Documents Trump's Washington
Washington Post reporter Ben Terris offers a fair treatment to both conservative and liberal activists in the Trump era.
Robots Aren't Coming For Movie Stars, Yet
Artificial intelligence is not about to replace your favorite actors.
Can Traditional Legal Customs Coexist With Western-Style State Law?
Geoffrey Swenson’s book Contending Orders tackles Afghanistan and Timor-Leste.
The Battlefields of Cable
How cable TV transformed politics—and how politics transformed cable TV
'Private Tyranny' Is Less Private Than You Think
Sohrab Ahmari inadvertently gives even more reasons to reduce the power of the state.
No Such Thing As a Free Lunch: Puzzle #2
"Subject of a 500-year-old purity law in Germany"
We Don't Need a War on Screen Time
Unwired makes an unconvincing argument for heavy-handed tech regulation.
The Chicago Boys' Deal With the Devil
The Chile Project surveys neoliberalism's most polarizing experiment.
The Return of MDMA
Some doctors are itching to prescribe ecstasy again. How do we avoid the regulatory mistakes of the '80s?
How Chris Rufo Became the Thing He Hates
His panicked manifesto contains a strong case against CRT activism, but he ultimately falls into the same trap as his enemies.
Thank Dutch Merchants, Not a Strong State, for Capitalism
Pioneers of Capitalism chronicles centuries of bottom-up economic evolution in the Netherlands.
How Pirates in Madagascar Spread Enlightenment Ideas
Pirate Enlightenment documents an interracial experiment in stateless self-governance.
Review: Henry George's Many Children
The 19th century reformer's influence on 20th century progressives, conservatives, and libertarians
Oppression in the South Was Not an Expression of Freedom
Freedom's Dominion argues Southern history was animated by "racialized radical anti-statism." The case is lacking.
The Left-Right Spectrum Is Mostly Meaningless
The political landscape doesn’t fit on a simple map.
Review: Everything I Need I Get from You Gives a Fangirl's View of the Internet
Author Kaitlyn Tiffany offers a history of fandoms.
Beware the 'Christian Prince'
The Case for Christian Nationalism advocates for an ethnically uniform nation ruled by a "Christian prince."
Review: The Man Who Hacked the World Captures the Chaos of John McAfee
Author Alex Cody Foster went deep with McAfee for months in an ill-fated attempt to ghostwrite his memoir.
Review: Imperfect Victims Documents Women Who Are Prosecuted for Defending Themselves
Author Leigh Goodmark's end goals of abolishing prisons and defunding police are hard to swallow.
Interesting New Book on Unenumerated Rights in State Constitutions
Baby Ninth Amendments, by Anthony Sanders
An Anarchist's Guide to War
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's most controversial book has finally been fully translated into English.
