Philip Leventhal

very grateful to The Quietus for publishing this essay- on everyday fascism and the promise and problem of “beauty” as an inadequate but therapeutic response to the ugliness of the present - plus there are some thoughts on disco and Patricia Highsmith- this felt like a risk but I’m glad it’s out

Knight Institute Condemns Arrest of Journalists Reporting on Minneapolis Protests

The arrests of Lemon and Fort are intended to deter journalists from doing work we need them to do, and that the First Amendment was meant to protect. DOJ should drop these prosecutions or the courts should throw them out. knightcolumbia.org/content/knig...

MJHA is delighted to announce that the 2026 Modern Japan History Association Book Prize has been awarded to Simon Partner (Duke University) for "Koume's World: The Life and Work of a Samurai Woman Before and After the Meiji Restoration" (Columbia University Press, 2024)!

The Inner Life of Mrs. Dalloway | Columbia University Press Mrs. Dalloway is a novel about almost everything. The story of a single day in London after the First World War, it travels backward and forward in time and ... | CUP

"[A] profound, deeply moving study ... full of stimulating perceptions."

The Virginia Woolf Bulletin reviews THE INNER LIFE OF MRS. DALLOWAY, by Edward Mendelson.

Use the coupon code MLA and save 30% on the book! bit.ly/43tcDu2 @columbiaup.bsky.social

Laurels and Darts: Courageous reporting from Minnesota and Iran; tone-deafness out of Chicago; Courageous reporting from Minnesota and Iran. Plus: tone-deafness at the Tribune; spit hoods in Seattle.

Courageous reporting from Minnesota and Iran. Plus: tone-deafness at the Tribune; spit hoods in Seattle. This week’s Laurels and Darts by @banikarim.bsky.social. www.cjr.org/laurels-and-...

Photo of Katherine Fusco from her website

It’s been a busy day for AB&IA. Not only did I release a new episode, but I also recorded an interview. The new interview: Katherine Fusco, author of Hollywood’s Others: Love & Limitation In The Star System. Watch this space for info. @columbiaup.bsky.social @fuscowrites.bsky.social

‘Terrorist! Terrorist! Terrorist!’ From Minneapolis to Gaza, how does the press responsibly report killings when officials act in obvious bad faith? By looking out the window.

From Minneapolis to Gaza, how does the press responsibly report killings when officials act in obvious bad faith? By looking out the window. Read Jem Bartholomew. www.cjr.org/the_media_to...

Thanks @dwhdaily.bsky.social for the SHOUT-OUT to B. Geetha's fab review of 'Death by Laughter' in the January books round-up for @criterion.bsky.social ‼️‼️ (lots of irresistible reading recs here... 📚🎞️)

www.criterion.com/current/post...

How Minnesotans Faced Down MAGA The pushback against ICE exposed a series of mistaken assumptions.

Minneapolis residents aren’t just pushing back against Trump’s crackdown—they’re undercutting MAGA’s core philosophy, Adam Serwer argues.

YouTube video by ColumbiaDC Channel Dictating Reality: The Global Battle to Control the News

Martin Moore and ThomasColley discuss their extraordinary new book, DICTATING REALITY: THE GLOBAL BATTLE TO CONTROL THE NEWS with @jonlemire.bsky.social youtu.be/fOa7Y1e7NQo?... @martinjemoore.bsky.social @columbiaup.bsky.social

“Everything We Do Matters.” Minneapolis’s Moon Palace Books is a Hub For Anti-ICE Resistance Angela Schwesnedl from Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis picked up my phone call on Saturday almost two hours to the minute after Alex Pretti was murdered in the street by ICE officers. “If you have…

“All the bookstores here are fighting this,” she said, “I can’t overstate how involved all the stores are and how much work everybody is doing. It is a really incredible moment to be here. And to be part of this.”—Angela Schwesnedl, Moon Palace Books in @literaryhub.bsky.social

Letter From Minnesota: This Occupation is Strange But Familiar This is the second dispatch in our ongoing series of Letters From Minnesota in which we invite writers to share their experiences, as both witness and warning, of American authoritarianism. _______…

In the second dispatch in our Letters from Minneapolis series, chaun webster considers the strange familiarity of ICE and the limits of our language to grapple with it.

On Friday, January 30th at 1 pm, join Jennifer Scappettone as she discusses her new book, POETRY AFTER BARBARISM at Basket Books and Arts in Houston, TX. tinyurl.com/2dbu8y7n @xenoglossic.bsky.social @columbiaup.bsky.social

Philly folks! Next Saturday February 7 at 6pm: an event on poetry and labor at Lot 49 Books in Fishtown, feat. @keegancf.bsky.social, Gina Myers, and me. Please spread far and wide! Come along!!

Marginality: Solidarity and the Fight for Social Change with Dr. Jin Park #podcast #philosophy In this episode of Chasing Leviathan, PJ and Dr. Jin Park explore the idea of marginality and why it matters for understanding power, identity, and social change. Their conversation is grounded in…

Watch an interview with Jin Y. Park, author of MARGINALITY, on The Chasing Leviathan Podcast. buff.ly/7GpP4aa #socialjustice #socialchange

Harming Intersex People In The Name of Normality Scholar Iain Morland makes the case against medicalization

Read an interview with Iain Morland, author of INTERSEX, on the Everything is Horrible substack. buff.ly/BSfpM6o @nberlat.bsky.social

Unruly Pleasures of Scholarship: On Maggie Hennefeld’s Death by Laughter: Female Hysteria and Early Cinema – Senses of Cinema

I'm deeply grateful for this extremely thoughtful, generous review of 'Death by Laughter' by B. Geetha in the new issue of @sensesofcinema.bsky.social!! Sending all my comrades here a much-needed jolt of jouissance and fuel to keep fighting (& laughing!!) ❤️🔥🐍🎞️

www.sensesofcinema.com/2026/book-re...

Afterlives of the Plantation: An Interview with Jarvis C. McInnis - AAIHS In today's post, Dr. Robert Greene II, Former AAIHS President and Associate Professor of History at Claflin University, interviews Dr. Jarvis C. McInnis about his book, Afterlives of the Plantation: P...

An excellent interview w/ Jarvis McInnis about his book AFTERLIVES OF THE PLANTATION, the role of the Black South in global modernity, the legacy of Booker T. Washington, HBCUs, and much more. tinyurl.com/mwawd9b7 @columbiaup.bsky.social

Unruly Pleasures of Scholarship: On Maggie Hennefeld’s Death by Laughter: Female Hysteria and Early Cinema – Senses of Cinema

"Hennefeld ... proposes that scholarship can be practiced through joy, pleasure, and unruly enjoyment."

An excellent review of Maggie Hennefeld's DEATH BY LAUGHTER: FEMALE HYSTERIA & EARLY CINEMA in @sensesofcinema.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/yc88xb7u @hennefem.bsky.social @columbiaup.bsky.social

The Inner Life of Mrs. Dalloway | Columbia University Press Mrs. Dalloway is a novel about almost everything. The story of a single day in London after the First World War, it travels backward and forward in time and ... | CUP

On #VirginiaWoolf's birthday, check out THE INNER LIFE OF MRS. DALLOWAY, Edward Mendelson's exploration of Woolf's novel as an extended protest against authorities that wield power over others.

Use the code MLA and save 30%: bit.ly/43tcDu2 @columbiaup.bsky.social

The Politics of Raw Power | Joseph O’Neill, Daniel Drake On Wednesday a group of Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis pinned a man to the ground and, while he was immobilized, blasted pepper spray into his face

Wrote to @josephoneill.bsky.social to talk about authoritarianism, the horrors in Minneapolis, and what to do about useless Democrats

"You have to use it. You have to trust it.": Forced Adoption of AI is The Subtext of Davos Authoritarianism is the AI Bailout; But If AI Doesn't Need a Bailout, Does it Need Authoritarianism?

I watched a bunch of AI sessions at the WEF so you wouldn’t have to.

But you should read this.

Newly unsealed evidence makes it even clearer that Rubio and Noem knew they were targeting students based solely on their political speech and that they knew this policy was unconstitutional. They just didn’t care. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/u...

Mahmoud Khalil, SIPA ’24, will be rearrested and deported to Algeria, DHS says Mahmoud Khalil, SIPA ’24, will be rearrested and deported to Algeria, Tricia McLaughlin, Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary for public affairs, announced Thursday, as the federal gove...

Awful.

Laurels and Darts: ICE directive discovery; silent Bezos; a post-fire future; an investigation in Texas. Plus: silent Bezos, post-fire future, and an investigation in Texas.

ICE Directive Discovery. Plus: silent Bezos, post-fire future, and an investigation in Texas. Read this week's Laurels and Darts by @banikarim.bsky.social. www.cjr.org/laurels-and-...

The Life and Times of the Literary Agent Georges Borchardt by Michael Meyer May 23, 2018 –   There’s a good chance Georges Borchardt was responsible for shepherding at least one of your favorite writers to publication. After immigrating to

The Paris Review mourns the loss of Georges Borchardt. Read our interview with him, published in 2018, here.

Philly people! Save the date! On Feb 7th @keegancf.bsky.social, poet Gina Myers, and I will be talking about poetry + work at Lot 49 books; 6-7:30; pub after; flier to come; come come come

Socialism in One City The ultimate test for Mamdani’s vision will be successful governance—and so far, it appears to be working.

In 1966 MLK went head to head with Chicago’s liberal mayor, speaking before thousands: “Let us be dissatisfied until every socially oppressive ghetto and rat-infested slum is plunged into the junk heaps of our nation and Negroes and whites live side by side in decent, safe, and sanitary housing.”

“Who's this guy who's not Palestinian, walking around in his socks?” A Jewish American Substacker on balancing ethics with activism in a war zone. A Jewish American Substacker on balancing ethics with activism in a war zone.

A Jewish American Substacker on balancing ethics with activism in a war zone, by Amos Barshad.
www.cjr.org/the-intervie...

@jbhe.com has a great list of Recent Books of Interest to African American Scholars, including THE SOUTHS IN HER, by Nicole M. Morris Johnson tinyurl.com/ymzmsr2p @nimojo.bsky.social @columbiaup.bsky.social