Thinking the Present

Reading From Behind – Jonathan A. Allan

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Women, in READING FROM BEHIND, exist as oft-quoted scholars, but never as the sexual, multi-orificed and full-bodied humans that men are allowed to be.

Drone and Apocalypse – Joanna Demers

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[DRONE & APOCALYPSE] is in part a delineation of a secular, nihilistic faith, a faith that can rely only on worldly beauty for its unifying force.

The Art of the Publisher – Roberto Calasso

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The publisher is not dying, it is adapting in order to survive.

This Divided Island – Samanth Subramanian

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Divided Island, then, is a post-war book, which tries to saturate its pages with the atmosphere of war.

Cosmic Pessimism – Eugene Thacker

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Thacker’s text isn’t a monument; it isn’t even a book.

Between the World and Me – Ta-Nehisi Coates

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Ta-Nehisi Coates does not write to blunt edges. He writes so that it might be possible to slice away the protective illusions that obscure the brutal reality of blackness in America.

Ethics – Walead Beshty

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By taking issue with the conventions in the discourse around art, beyond aesthetics, the selected contributors deeply interrogate objects, labor conditions, and the transparency within ethics.

The Secret World of Oil – Ken Silverstein

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In this era, some people go to war over religion. For other folks, oil will do.

The Future – Marc Augé / Heroes – Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi

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Neither Augé nor Bifo wants the future to be a dodge, and nor should we.

The Utopia of Rules – David Graeber

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This book of essays stands out less for the questions it asks, than for the assumptions that it refuses to question.