The 3 Body Problem's Chilling Social Media Parallel
From struggle sessions to cancel culture, the story depicts the terrors of surveillance authoritarianism.
Reviews
DARE Didn't Make Kids 'Say No' to Drugs. It Normalized Police in Schools.
DARE to Say No details the history of an anti-drug campaign that left an indelible mark on America.
Review: Violation Podcast Dissects the Broken U.S. Parole System
How do we decide who is worthy of a second chance?
Review: Musical Movie Doesn't Recapture Mean Girls' Genuine Meanness
The audience's tolerance for the truth about bullying has diminished in our oversensitive age.
Review: How Ray Trapani Scammed the Crypto World and Got Away With it
Netflix's Bitconned explores Centra Tech's scammy business dealings.
Review: Tripping on Utopia Complicates the History of Psychedelics
Mind-altering drugs have long been seen as tools for both liberation and control.
Review: Fargo's Self-Identified Libertarian Is No Libertarian
Will Sheriff Roy Tillman replace Ron Swanson as TV's most notable libertarian character? Hopefully not.
Review: Is Saltburn an Eat-the-Rich Comedy? Not Quite.
Critics are misreading the movie. The wealthy are not the villains in this story.
Review: For All Mankind Offers an Alternate History of Moon Exploration
What if Russia had landed on the moon before the United States?
Review: Cyberpunk 2077 Explores Another Lawless Dystopia
In the game's Phantom Liberty expansion, those who make the laws rarely follow them.
Review: HBO's Comedic Take on Pirate Life
The pirates in Our Flag Means Death end up more interested in skirting imperial powers than in plundering.
Review: Netflix's Real-Life Spinoff Can't Recreate Squid Game's Allure
In Squid Game: The Challenge, contestants don't really risk their lives.
Review: Photographic Glimpses at 20th Century Roots Music
Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz's photos document blues, country, and Cajun music.
Review: Ken Burns Explains the Anti–Native American Plot To Kill Bison
The American Buffalo documentary charts the fall and rise of American bison.
Review: Godzilla Minus One Rejects the Idea of a 'Noble Death' in War
Director Takashi Yamazaki brings to the screen the most dreadful version of Godzilla since the franchise began.
Review: Netflix Delivers a Surprisingly Balanced Take on Vaping
Big Vape presents differing views on the supposed youth vaping epidemic.
An Instagram Star Walks the Fine Line Between Self-Creation and Snake Oil
Social media influencer Caroline Calloway might not be a reliable narrator, but Scammer is an honest memoir nevertheless.
The 'No Compromise' NRA Is Neither New nor Uncompromising
The book Vote Gun criticizes the NRA’s rhetoric but pays little attention to gun control advocates' views.
Review: Exposing a Broken Juvenile Court System
Kids were jailed for minor offenses, as detailed in The Kids of Rutherford County podcast.
Is Facial Recognition a Useful Public Safety Tool or Something Sinister?
Your Face Belongs to Us documents how facial recognition might threaten our freedom.
Review: Loki Reckons With the Peril of Power
In the second season of his eponymous Marvel series, Loki becomes both more human and more godlike.
Review: A Teen Dramedy on a Native American Reservation
The government abuse that precipitated Native American social woes is not directly discussed in Reservation Dogs.
Review: A Fitting End to Attack on Titan
Attack on Titan is ultimately an anime about what it means to be free.
Review: Starfield Is Really a Video Game About Government
Bureaucracy vs. freedom in outer space
Review: Should Humans Settle Mars? This Book Is Skeptical.
A City on Mars is a counterbalance to the growing optimism over space exploration.
Review: Banksy's Iconic Art on Display in London
The unauthorized "Art of Banksy" exhibit includes ads from the street artist's real-life Palestine hotel.
Review: The Disputed Roots of the Cuban Sandwich
It's Miami vs. Tampa in the Florida sandwich wars.
Review: The Florida Novels of Charles Willeford
“Just tell the truth, and they’ll accuse you of writing black humor.”
Genre-Bending Anime Spy x Family Tackles Cold War Espionage
State power and oppressive surveillance serve as the backdrop for this animated spy comedy.
Review: Scarface Shows How Prohibition Leads to Violence
Tony Montana has a bloody rags-to-riches story.
Review: Craig Robinson's Extremely Florida Sitcom
Killing It mocks capitalism, but at least it's funny.
Review: When Pirates Take Over Tampa
Real pirates terrorized the Gulf Coast. These modern pirates just want to have fun.
Review: The Cross Florida Barge Canal That Never Was
Libertarians will read Ditch of Dreams as a story about bureaucracy and environmentalism run amok.
Review: The Album That Helped Make Florida the Epicenter of Death Metal
Death's 1990 Spiritual Healing paints a right-wing culture warrior’s nightmare vision of America.
Review: How To Live to 100
It's not as easy as Netflix's Secrets of the Blue Zones makes it seem.
Review: Painkiller Falls for Drug War Misconceptions
The series foregrounds cases of OxyContin addiction, despite their rarity.
Review: Blind Plea Only Scratches the Surface of Plea Bargains
Host Liz Flock delivers a compelling narrative but misses chances to interrogate the justice system.
Review: Ahsoka Rejects Star Wars' Good-vs.-Evil Binary
George Lucas divided his universe into light and dark. Dave Filoni is dissolving that worldview.
Review: Inside New York's 20th Century Psychotherapeutic Cult
The Sullivan Institute trapped members and broke up families.
Review: When a Fentanyl Thief Slipped Through the Cracks, Women Suffered
A New York Times podcast tells a story about both the drug war and institutional incompetence.
Review: A Podcast With Lighthearted Takes on Grim Historical Events
In The Rest Is History, two historians strike a pleasing balance between fact-dense narratives and witty banter.
Review: Netflix Offers a Too-Lighthearted Take on Becoming a Cult Leader
Narrator Peter Dinklage takes viewers through a step-by-step process for becoming the next Jim Jones.
Review: A Vampire Mockumentary Takes on Local Politics
“It’s really no surprise, the amount of energy vampires in politics," says a fictional candidate for Staten Island comptroller.
Review: Slow Burn Steps Inside the House at the Center of Clarence Thomas Controversy
A podcast about a man everyone already has an opinion about.
Review: They Cloned Tyrone Draws on Old CIA Conspiracy Theories
The political commentary in Netflix's sci-fi comedy isn't exactly subtle.
Review: Who Really Wrote Little House on the Prairie?
Did Laura Ingalls Wilder's libertarian daughter have an outsize role in crafting the beloved children's series?
Review: Not Everyone Liked the New Deal
Amity Shlaes anthologizes Franklin D. Roosevelt’s critical contemporaries.
