The Hope and Humor of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s Early Essays

A timely review of Writings on Yiddish and Yiddishkayt: The War Years, 1939–1945

Helen Schulman's review explores Bashevis Singer's "Writings on Yiddish and Yiddishkayt, The War Years, 1939-1945." The piece highlights Singer's poignant essays, written during World War II, offering a glimpse into his reactions to Nazi atrocities and the erosion of Yiddish culture, and drawing connections to the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict. ...

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The Hope and Humor of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s Early Essays

The Adventures of a Very Amateur Historian

In episode 38, Claire Potter chats with Allison Epstein about her new novel on Imperial Russia, Let the Dead Bury the Dead

Allison Epstein’s new historical novel, Let the Dead Bury the Dead, is a story about Russians fighting for freedom. It’s a ripping tale about an officer coming home from the Napoleonic Wars to the man he loves....

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The Adventures of a Very Amateur Historian

Wilderness, Urban Landscapes, and Biocapacity

In an excerpt from The Architecture of Disability, the author considers the performance of disability in so-called “nature”

Challenging the physical inaccessibility of national parks might be reimagined as an opportunity to demonstrate the artifice of American nature more broadly. If disability rights are ultimately human rights, then the ideas presented here suggest new, unimagined alliances....

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Wilderness, Urban Landscapes, and Biocapacity

Sleepwalkers

We are once again proving ourselves to be the dupes of violence

My deepest fear—and not only for Israel and Palestine, but for many other parts of the world where political responsibility is being undermined by the narcotics of outrage and resentment—is that our political life is currently locked in a downward spiral thanks to which options appear to be more and ...
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Sleepwalkers

In Ecuador, a New Beginning?

The troubled South American country elects an untested 35-year-old president

Noboa plans to tackle the current crisis with five strategic proposals: reform the penitentiary and judicial system; create a central intelligence agency; protect and strengthen the country’s official currency, the U.S. dollar; reduce unemployment; and become more financially competitive. In theory, these are all good ideas—but citizens have heard all ...
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In Ecuador, a New Beginning?

Reflections on the War between Israel and Hamas 

Voices of sanity are in danger of being drowned out by the rhetoricians of all-out war

For a long time many civilians, Israeli and Palestinian, have suffered, as their leaders have failed to bring about a civil, peaceful, and at least modestly just end to a long and violent conflict. I feel for them all, and particularly for the children who have grown up knowing nothing ...
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Reflections on the War between Israel and Hamas