Articles in Literature

Peter Thiel dressed in wizard robes, holding a crystal ball. Behind him is a crouching Gollum creature with the face of JD Vance.

How the Right Abuses Tolkien

For Peter Thiel, JD Vance, and other figures on today’s far right, the works of J.R.R. Tolkien have become a cultural touchstone. Pity they don’t understand the first thing about them.

The White Male Writer is Fine, I Promise

In Compact magazine, Jacob Savage complains that the “white male writer” is becoming an endangered species. But that’s a lazy, self-absorbed narrative that obscures the real threats to literature today.

The Power of Afrofuturism to Imagine New Worlds

Afrofuturism, the centuries-long intellectual and creative tradition of imagining Black futures through speculative narratives, could not be more relevant right now as we face racial, social, and economic inequities alongside a worsening climate crisis.



You’ve Got to Read Books

Not everyone has the available time or energy to do deep reading. But if you’re going to make confident public pronouncements on matters that require a lot of research, books will help you avoid dangerous foolishness.