Review: Justice Is…
Preet Bharara's new children's book, Justice Is... purports to be "a guide for young truth seekers."
Book Reviews
Was Censorship the Greatest COVID Threat to Freedom?
It wasn't just autocrats who were frequently tempted to address "fake news" about the pandemic through state pressure and coercion.
Happy Star Wars Day!
In honor of this major holiday, I post a round-up of my writings, interviews, and talks about one of the world's most popular science fiction franchises.
Labor Econ Versus the World
Bryan Caplan's latest book covers the hypocrisy of unpaid collegiate internships and a defense of the professoriate against the charges of laziness.
A New History of the Old Right
In the American right, populism has always been lurking in the shadows.
![book1 | Photo: Uncle Sam rounding up men labeled “Spy,” “Traitor,” “IWW,” “Germ[an] money,” and “Sinn Fein,” with the United States Capitol in the background](https://d2eehagpk5cl65.cloudfront.net/img/c331x186-w331-q60/uploads/2022/03/book1-331x186.jpg)
Speaking Freely Through the Ages
As long as there have been laws, there have been attempts to silence people.
Are We Always on the Verge of Civil War?
All that Civil War II talk is overblown—but that isn't the only sort of political violence to worry about.
The Fuzzy Moral Line Between Drinkers and Bartenders
Were liquor suppliers across the world guilty of outrageous abuses that explain the prohibitionist response?
First World Problems
Asian-American communities are full of stark divisions—including splits over whether to see themselves as "Asian Americans" in the first place.
Dangerous Visions and New Worlds
An anthology looks back at science fiction's New Wave.
Expanding Our Understanding of the Revolution
Despite all the controversy it has courted, Woody Holton's newest book doesn't stray very far from other scholarly interpretations of the American Revolution.
Once a Bitcoin Miner
Crypto was a scene where people without proper credentials and connections in the world of high finance could strike it swiftly rich.
When Humanitarianism Prolongs the Inhumane
"A future of bloodless global discipline is a chilling thing."
The Reactionary Tradition Out To Annihilate American Liberty
A World After Liberalism details the rise of a young right that finds reactionary ideas relevant and appealing.
The History and Politics of Public Radio
James T. Bennett's libertarian critique argues that noncommercial radio can be detached from the state—and that it's better that way.
Foundation
The TV adaptation of Isaac Asimov's classic trilogy is still fundamentally about the ways in which politics and objective truth inevitably clash.
The Matrix Resurrections Is Less a Sequel and More a Bizarre Thinkpiece About The Matrix's Legacy
It's the strangest, most meta sequel of the year.
A Flawed Case Against Black Self-Defense
In the face of state failure, neglect, and overt hostility, black Americans need the right to bear arms.
What Technology Can Learn From Biology
Can humans design products that assemble (and disassemble) themselves?
A Scientific Life on the Edge
Stanton Peele's memoir of his "lonely quest to change how we see addiction" contradicts the prejudices that still dominate the drug policy debate.
Foucault in the Panopticon
How Michel Foucault's encounters in Poland's heavily policed gay community informed his ideas
Terrorwashing a Genocide
How the war on terror facilitated Communist China's repression of Uyghurs
Neal Stephenson's Termination Shock Is a Glorious Sci-Fi Vision of How To Respond to Global Warming, One Geoengineering Problem at a Time
In Stephenson's near-future novel, innovation, not legislation, is the best response to a changing climate.
Sean Wilentz Reviews Noah Feldman's New Lincoln Book, "The Broken Constitution"
"Feldman contends that [Jefferson] Davis was right and Lincoln was wrong."
The Best of Cold War Culture
Books, films, and more related to the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Diversity Can't Save Eternals. It's a Cosmic Disaster.
Marvel's latest superhero epic is a boring movie about boring people.
Review of the New Dune Movie
It's by far the best cinematic version of Frank Herbert's classic science fiction novel.
Lockdowns' High Costs and Murky Benefits
Cato economist Ryan Bourne's new book is a much-needed rejoinder to the obtuse economic reasoning of many pandemic-era policy makers.
The Spinning Wheel of Confusing Television Reboots Lands on 4400
Just like the characters, this short-lived sci-fi show makes a mysterious return years later.
Dune Is an Epic Love Letter to Classic Science Fiction
This is Denis Villeneuve's movie, but it's fully Frank Herbert's Dune.
The Family Firm
Context, tradeoffs, and preferences matter—both in parenting and outside of it.
We Are Satellites
Sci-fi novelist Sarah Pinsker's new book deals with the ways technology shapes how we conceive of the inner self.
Stealthily Wielding Caesar's Sword
Sohrab Ahmari's case for tradition conceals an authoritarian agenda.
La Brea Is a Sucking Sinkhole of a Sci-Fi Mystery Show
Both literally and in terms of quality
Project Hail Mary
In the new sci-fi novel, humanity manages to save itself not with social revolution but through reason, technology, and innovation.
Undoing Drugs
Harm reduction invites a radical reconsideration of the way the government deals with politically disfavored intoxicants.
A Clear and Present Lack of Danger
We can stop obsessing about Islamic terrorists crossing the Southern border.
The Unsinkable City
A new book explores how New York has transformed itself since the crises of the 1970s.
America's Cross-Partisan Dalliance With Eugenics
A new book pulls the curtain back—but only partway.
Autonomous Mexico
What happened when some indigenous people took their lands back from the state
