Samuel Moyn

A Fight Over a West Point Job Reveals Two Visions of America Under Trump

“Her rise was fueled by the post-9/11 wars, which cost trillions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives. Their failure, over the course of more than 20 years, highlighted the massive blind spots of the country’s political and foreign policy elite.” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/u...

Switzerland Is Stunned by 39% U.S. Tariff, Among the Highest in the World

“We wish the Swiss people a successful and meaningful celebration…” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/b...

Book out in June

Opinion | Someone Is Defying the Supreme Court, but It Isn’t Trump

“There’s a temptation for lower-court judges to play to the galleries, even if doing so undermines the credibility of the judiciary as a whole.” AV on departmentalist resistance to lower courts (in the name of supporting the apex court conservatives own.)

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/o...

From MIH Archives: Of savagery and civil society? Samuel Moyn @samuelmoyn.bsky.social ‪examines the thought of French anthropologist Pierre Clastres and situates his once-famous depiction of savage politics as a premonitory rejection of the state at the crossroads of several traditions

Visibility is a trap.
-Michel Foucault

The Way We Understand the Cold War Is Wrong When people talk about a new Cold War, they tend to assume they know exactly what the original Cold War was and when it ended. Renowned historian Anders Stephanson argues that the standard Cold War ch...

The case for a short Cold War jacobin.com/2025/07/cold...

Do Elections Define Democracy? with Natasha Piano Podcast Episode · Political Philosophy Podcast · 07/26/2025 · 1h 15m

Interesting podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...

The Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended America by John Fabian Witt Pulitzer finalist Witt (American Contagions) unearths the nearly forgotten history of the American Fund for Public Service, an e...

Starred review from @publisherswkly.bsky.social says The Radical Fund is “an immense and essential achievement” with an “exhilarating range of figures” and “stark parallels with the present.” www.publishersweekly.com/9781476765877

When a Gaza cease-fire is signed, Israelis will have to face just how much we lost the war | Opinion ***

www.haaretz.com/opinion/2025...

Against Innocence A provocative critique of how the concept of innocence functions in contemporary politics and society.   In 2025, we are arguably more attentive to different kinds of harm than ever before in human hi...

Cool press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

But I thought the Supreme Court was good

Fall syllabus prep-the fun part

The world is run by old men in a hurry The advanced age of leaders is a destabilising force in international politics

True www.ft.com/content/1d41...

New perspectives on Judith Shklar - Contemporary Political Theory Contemporary Political Theory -

Just published! A collection of short reflections on Judith Shklar's political theory from @samuel-bagg.bsky.social, David Enoch, @shalmarr.bsky.social, and @samuelmoyn.bsky.social, with an introduction from me.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Opinion | Trump Is a Situational Man in a Structural Bind

This is excellent www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/o...

The West A comprehensive intellectual history of the idea of the West

Georgios Varouxakis, The West: The History of an Idea, @princetonupress.bsky.social, July 2025
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Free link to mine: www.journals.uchicago.edu/eprint/ZMQNY...

American Political Thought | Vol 14, No 3

Yuval Levin and I argue about the Constitution www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/apt/2025...

Speaking Reassurance to Power, by Pankaj Mishra

Ouch

Indispensable as always

harpers.org/archive/2025...

Cover up www.cambridge.org/universitypr...

Fantastic essay

Mid-life crisis, people are saying

Looks great

Forever Wars, Forever Forgotten - Public Books As the war on terror expanded abroad, paradoxically, it faded further into the American background.

www.publicbooks.org/forever-wars...

Issue 5 of Volume 123 is now live on our website! Make sure to check out these insightful pieces by @petersalib.bsky.social, @ryandoerfler.bsky.social, @samuelmoyn.bsky.social, @dvmholmes.bsky.social, and Derek A. Zeigler at michiganlawreview.org/archive/.

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CfP for the Inaugural Association for Law and Political Economy (ALPE) Conference is out!!!

LPE is moving the central locus of coordination away from a foundation-funded model to a dues-paying membership organization.

lawandpoliticaleconomy.org

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Vincent Brown on the unprincipled capitulation of universities to the powers of their day.

Supreme Court Keeps Ruling in Trump’s Favor, but Doesn’t Say Why

“Please, sir, may I have some more reasons?” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/16/u...