Cancel Culture

When the Pew Research Center recently asked working journalists to pick one word to describe the media, the overwhelming plurality, nearly 50 percent, picked words such as chaos and struggling—with financial insecurity, with organizational dysfunction. Gone is the age when independent writers could make a living reporting; gone is the age when veteran editors knew how to market books; gone even is the recent age when Twitter celebrity sold books. Eve Fairbanks, The Atlantic

un bell'articolo sulla cancel culture. 

Inoltre: il progresso morale avanza di pari passo a quello scientifico e tecnologico? Un bel libro esplora la questione: MacAskill, What We Owe the Future (Basics).

Oxford philosopher William MacAskill thinks morality requires us to take care of the future. His new book, What We Owe the Future, seeks to explain what this obligation amounts to, and intervenes in various philosophical debates about morality and moral status. What We Owe the Future is written in a simple style, a shining example of the conventions of the analytic philosophy tradition—conventions from which many philosophers quickly depart when writing for the public. His views are stated so clearly as to resemble slogans but defended so rigorously as to seem the opposite. “You can shape the course of history,” MacAskill writes—and, he adds, you ought to. Oliver Traldi, City Journal

Diane Arbus e Yuval Noah Harari

hanno molto poco in comune, se non che questa settimana ho trovato due articoli interessanti su di loro, e quindi si trovano, qui, in compagnia.

On the other hand, in Arbus’ case, the photograph might be the weapon. To enter Cataclysm—a facsimile of the Museum of Modern Art exhibition that so disturbed Sontag, staged on its 50th anniversary by the David Zwirner galley—is to be zapped across the room by the close-ups on the opposite wall. Tightly framed (or cropped), Arbus’ subjects typically stare directly into the camera. The show is something of a confrontation. J. Hoberman, Tablet

in occasione di una mostra: "Cataclysm: The 1972 Diane Arbus Retrospective Revisited" at David Zwirner from September 14 through October 22, 2022, at 537 W 20th St, New York, NY 10011

e su Hariri:

The best-selling author is a gifted storyteller and popular speaker. But he sacrifices science for sensationalism, and his work is riddled with errors. Darshana Narayanan, Current Affairs

The Golden Mole

But this is a 21st-century bestiary, and rather than trying to slot animals, birds and fish into a Christian worldview, Rundell – author of wondrous children’s books and recently a thrilling biography of John Donne – is arguing urgently for their survival. Samantha Ellis, The Guardian

si parla di The Golden Mole and Other Living Treasure, di Katherine Rundell (Faber).

Follow the Leader

Whether it’s because of the uncertain times in which we live, the dismal nature of our political leaders, or the rise of rightwing populism, we have had a spate of books in recent years on leadership in modern history. From Frank Dikötter’s How to Be a Dictator to Henry Kissinger’s Leadership, the format seems to be to string together chapters on various world leaders who changed the course of history, for good or bad, and reflect on the patterns between them.

The latest offering is Ian Kershaw’s Personality and Power, in which the great historian of Hitler and his movement pens a dozen lucid portraits of the leaders – half of them dictators, the others democrats, to varying degrees – who shaped Europe’s 20th century. Orlando Figes, The Guardian