Christopher Hooks

Certified Chris Hooks Classic, here. It is very detailed and humane in telling the story it tells, which concerns the damage that a small number of snitches, creeps, and dullards have done to this institution, but also about the long history and awful present of snitches/creeps/dullards doing that.

ty king

I ended up reading a couple dozen books and journal articles about the history in this piece, only a few of which are directly mentioned. I recognize some of the claims are polemical and interpretive, but this piece went through a pretty rigorous fact-checking process, for which I’m grateful.

Hey Susan! Strongly encourage you (and anyone) to email me if you think you have corrections. FWIW, I centered the Dethloff book to talk about the way that the school talks about itself, which was interesting to me. I fully recognize that is not authoritative and blinkered-sometimes comically so

What’s the Matter With Texas A&M? Five presidents in five years. Firings of “woke” professors. Crackdowns on Plato. Inside state leaders’ efforts to remake a great university.

Tour de force on just exactly what has gone on at Texas A&M for so many years from Chris Hooks in @texasmonthly.bsky.social:

www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

What’s the Matter With Texas A&M? Five presidents in five years. Firings of “woke” professors. Crackdowns on Plato. Inside state leaders’ efforts to remake a great university.

For two years, I've been investigating claims that Texas A&M University has been overtaken by the forces of gay race communism. The truth is a little more complicated: www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

Q: How do I unlock Sunglasses Macron?
A: It's very difficult to unlock Sunglasses Macron in the course of a normal game because it requires a specific and unlikely sequence of events. While default Macron is ruler of France, the USA must choose the monarchy path and then lay claim to Greenland.

The Battle for One of the Richest and Smallest Counties in Texas A few families have been duelling for control of Loving County for decades. Then the followers of a hustle-culture influencer moved in.

Because we could all use a little distraction: I wrote about all the drama that's been brewing in Loving County, a land of oilfields and family feuds and, most recently, a takeover attempt by an outside group www.newyorker.com/news/letter-...

im going to keep posting this because I need to believe I got colder than I've ever been for a reason

Real Men Steal Countries: Inside Trump’s Absurd Greenland Obsession An underdressed reporter journeys across icy, barren Greenland—and into Trump’s bored, nineteenth-century brain.

I wrote last year about what MAGA actually sees in Greenland, an island we already basically quietly own, why its leader is too stupid to get what he wants, and what they see as a beneficial side-effect (destroying the post-war international order) newrepublic.com/article/1947...

"I think good writing—clear thinking—matters. Not much, but a little! This is a minority position, I am learning." Chris Hooks on Olivia Nuzzi, Joan Didion, and the self-delusions of our current moment newrepublic.com/article/2041...

The Self-Delusions of Olivia Nuzzi’s American Canto Her memoir frequently shows an indifference toward truth, falsity, and meaning. In that way, it’s an artifact of our age.

I know you probably do not want to read another article about American Canto. I certainly didn't think I wanted to read another article about American Canto. But this is, in fact, the best article I've yet read about American Canto.

The Self-Delusions of Olivia Nuzzi’s American Canto Her memoir frequently shows an indifference toward truth, falsity, and meaning. In that way, it’s an artifact of our age.

I reviewed American Canto… newrepublic.com/article/2041...

second verse on this is one of the funniest things i've ever heard

How West Texas Created American Conservatism A new book says a handful of eccentric characters in our most remote region changed America forever.

Many thanks to @hooks.bsky.social for this terrifically thoughtful review of Jeff Roche's THE CONSERVATIVE FRONTIER. @texasmonthly.bsky.social subscribers, this one will be in the print issue in your mailboxes very soon!

What the Texas National Guard Deployment Tells Us About Greg Abbott Our governor can be a maddeningly inscrutable figure. His latest exercise in ordering troops around can help us understand him.

There’s something missing in Greg Abbott. Over the last decade, he seems to have learned to fill it by moving troops around, a hobby which is having a stranger and stranger effect on his country as time goes by: www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

one of the most gripping films i've ever seen. feels far shorter than its runtime.

Right-Wing Lawmakers Are Trying to California Your Texas The right wing used to hate lawsuits, the nanny state, and the film industry. It’s learned to embrace them as a means of cultural influence.

Love this @hooks.bsky.social story about how Texas Republicans are embracing everything they once hated about California: Health food, trial lawyers and film industry slush funds.

www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

Amphibious Assault The case of the missing salamanders.

Full article (still an unsolved mystery!) by @hooks.bsky.social

www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the...

Opinion | Try Living in Elon Musk’s Company Town (Published 2024)

As with anything to do with this Musk vanity project, @hooks.bsky.social’s piece on its real human and environmental costs is a must-read. Gift link - www.nytimes.com/2024/05/24/o...

"...as a freelance magazine journalist, I am a blue-collar manufacturing worker in a collapsing industry that no amount of tariffs can fix. My day-to-day has become a Rust Belt of the mind, and there is nothing left for me in the West. Off I go." - @hooks.bsky.social

Real Men Steal Countries: Inside Trump’s Absurd Greenland Obsession An underdressed reporter journeys across icy, barren Greenland—and into Trump’s bored, nineteenth-century brain.

This is excellent. newrepublic.com/article/1947...

I went to Greenland to try to think through one of the strangest aspects of Trump's second term: His love of the 19th century newrepublic.com/article/1947...

Real Men Steal Countries: Inside Trump’s Absurd Greenland Obsession An underdressed reporter journeys across icy, barren Greenland—and into Trump’s bored, nineteenth-century brain.

This by @hooks.bsky.social, about Trump's Greenland fixation, is a thoughtful musing on his second term and this moment of frenetic ferment in American politics. "Why are the Americans doing this? My worry is that the answer is simple: We're bored." newrepublic.com/article/1947...

check the definition!

Real Men Steal Countries: Inside Trump’s Absurd Greenland Obsession

An underdressed reporter journeys across icy, barren Greenland—and into Trump’s bored, nineteenth-century brain.

Words by @hooks.bsky.social
Illustrations by @coldwarsteve.bsky.social

oops yeah that was supposed to be “the americas,” missed that it had changed

Real Men Steal Countries: Inside Trump’s Absurd Greenland Obsession An underdressed reporter journeys across icy, barren Greenland—and into Trump’s bored, nineteenth-century brain.

We sent @hooks.bsky.social to Greenland and he came back with a story about imperial folly, the return of the 19th century, and just what Donald Trump and his cronies are really up to there. It's the best thing I've read about Trump's second term newrepublic.com/article/1947...

Real Men Steal Countries: Inside Trump’s Absurd Greenland Obsession An underdressed reporter journeys across icy, barren Greenland—and into Trump’s bored, nineteenth-century brain.

It was a real pleasure to do this: newrepublic.com/article/1947...