Thinking the Present

War is Hell

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Casting policy in a military light is certainly not a new practice, of course, but today’s skirmishes are a far cry from the legislative crusades of the last century.

Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt – Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco

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As tragically optimistic as Hedges seems to be about the direction of the Occupy movement, it’s disheartening that he doesn’t seem to have as much faith in his previous arguments or in his audience’s ability to absorb them.

Planned Obsolescence – Kathleen Fitzpatrick

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It’s certainly no secret that the status quo of the scholarly publishing economy has been a straight-up racket for some time now.

Jodi Dean

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This idea that the Communist legacy is only one of misery and death is a remnant of the Cold War that the Left must abandon.

Why Love Hurts – Eva Illouz

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Eva Illouz sets out to do for emotional suffering and romantic love what Marx did for commodities.

Casey Nelson Blake

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I was attracted to the argument in the book that, even in the 1950s, cultural radicals like the Beats and white-collar executives (company men or “organization men”), were actually brothers under the skin. They both shared a cynical belief that role-playing and reputation were all that mattered.

Growing Up Absurd – Paul Goodman

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“Socialization to what?” is a radical question. But it’s also fairly easy to gloss over under certain social circumstances.

The More They Stay the Same: THE END OF MEN, THE RICHER SEX, and the Not-So-New World Order

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Mundy shows us a world full of Plastic Men (modern, adaptable, infinitely reinvented); Rosin shows us a world with no way forward. Is either option accurate?

Hedi el Kholti

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I like to work with this kind of cluster of references that mirror each other.