We need a language beat
Politics and language have always been linked in overt and implicit ways. During last year’s presidential campaign and in the post-election environment, many people began to note the multifarious slipperiness and co-optations… Read more »
Donald Trump’s Twitter is stressing everyone out, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the L.A. Times
Earlier this week at the New York Times, Michael M. Grynbaum and Sydney Ember reported on a particularly modern form of anxiety afflicting the news media in the Age of… Read more »
Book industry plans turnout for inauguration weekend protest
As hundreds of thousands, if not millions, descend on Washington, DC, to protest at Donald Trump’s inauguration, members of the book industry will be out in full force. Yesterday, Shelf… Read more »
Here’s an idea — let’s NOT normalize Donald Trump
Yesterday I read a tweet from the New York Times, referring to possible Chief of Staff and definite racist Steve Bannon as a “conservative provocateur.” I mean, come on. Surely… Read more »
Anna Politkovskaya has a question for Pence and Trump; had she not been assassinated ten years ago today, she’d be the one to ask it
As we mentioned last week, today marks the tenth anniversary of Anna Politkovskaya’s assassination. Politkovskaya, a ferocious journalist at Russia’s Novaya Gazyeta newspaper, became well-known for her trenchant-but-calm reporting style, vigorous critique of… Read more »
Russian Institute of Health and Hygiene is policing children’s books for sex, drugs, and italics
Back in 2010, Russia passed a series of laws aimed at protecting the innocence and purity of children. One law in particular—titled “On Protecting Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development”—limited… Read more »
Modern-day samizdat: publishing LGBT voices in Russia
As the 2014 Winter Olympics head into their second week, all eyes are on the sporting events and political controversies unfolding now in Sochi. Attracting less attention is Russian Prime… Read more »
Masha Gessen is writing a book about the Tsarnaev brothers
Well, that didn’t take long. Yesterday it was announced that Masha Gessen, author of the excellent biography of Vladimir Putin, The Man Without A Face, will be writing a book about… Read more »
“Explosive” Putin biography and its precedents
Masha Gessen’s new book, The Man Without a Face: The Rise and Crimes of Vladimir Putin, has been stirring up the Frankfurt Book Festival for its controversial take on the… 4 / Read more »