This year marked the 8th anniversary of Protean's founding; it was also our busiest yet. Below is a selection of the best work that we published, online and in Issue V. As ever, readers' generosity is the only reason any of this is possible. Support us by becoming a patron: patreon.com/proteanmag

This book by @lukeoneil47.bsky.social is full of beautiful, gut-wrenching prose. I'd call it Cormac McCarthy-esque.

Wondering what work is like for all those tasked with delivering those last-minute Christmas gifts? For @proteanmag.com I wrote this on algorithmic management, logistics work, and the possibilities for class struggle at the tail end of the supply chain x.com/brechtfast/s...

In this wide-ranging interview, Laleh Khalili (@lalehkhalili.bsky.social) speaks with Thea Riofrancos (@triofrancos.bsky.social) about her new book, "Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism"—on lithium mining, prospects for a just climate transition, and more. proteanmag.com/2025/12/22/e...

Please do not reply to me with a gif. If you reply to this post with a gif I will block you! Very small stakes but those are nonetheless the stakes.

Andrew Holter interviews Mitchell Abidor on his new book, Victor Serge: Unruly Revolutionary (@plutopress.bsky.social). "We in the Anglophone world have misunderstood some pretty important things about Serge"—including, Abidor claims, his late-life reactionary turn. proteanmag.com/2025/12/18/v...

saw the term "Richardsonism" on the TL; if you want to read something actually useful about the phenomena of H*ather C*x R*chardson, may I suggest (in @proteanmag.com): proteanmag.com/2025/01/20/t...

we had a lot of fun picking books from Verso’s archive. and i got to talk about two absolute classics, Ellen M. Wood’s Origins of Capitalism and Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities. many thanks to Verso for showing us around and for letting us give our little mini-lectures

VIDEO: The team behind @proteanmag.com (@jakeromm.bsky.social, @multiwhirl.bsky.social, @stevanzetti.bsky.social, and @walletcheck.bsky.social) visits our offices in New York City and makes their way through the Verso Archive, sharing some of the titles that have influenced their work.

Bayan Haddad (@BayanHaddad) remembers her former student Oudeh Hathaleen—a Palestinian teacher, father, and community leader, murdered by an Israeli settler. Haddad testifies against the inhuman colonial violence that was the antithesis of Oudeh's spirit. proteanmag.com/2025/12/08/o...

if you missed it—i want everyone to know about the extremely disturbing warrantless spying made possible by "Flock Safety," a policing surveillance startup that gives local cops (and even some corporations) an AI-enabled camera network, empowering them to follow individual drivers all around a city.

fucking hell. by which i mean to both swear like an Englishman and reiterate that we live in fucking hell

this month marks Protean's 8th year. the mag has been wholly reliant on many, many hours of our free labor. output is also limited because we pay writers. i just lost my main day-job income (to AI, no less). unfortunately, without more support, it's just not viable to keep going like this forever.

So glad to have been able to write about Solidarity with Children by @lalouverouge.bsky.social for @proteanmag.com. Special thanks to Tyler Walicek, an extraordinary editor.

i hope you'll read this compelling survey from Sarah Brouillette of the newest work from the always-astute and incisive Madeline Lane-McKinley—it's a tautly reasoned case for affording children greater rights and autonomy, reimagining social institutions that produce suffering and dehumanization.

Sharing a practice of reading with children is also a practice of listening to children: “What are you thinking about? What are your questions?“ @lalouverouge.bsky.social

i love this. partly out of my deep love for archival anything. but it also brings to mind the flow state i achieve during hours of DSLR scanning 35mm and 120 film rolls

I've been banging on & on about Fargo Tbakhi's essay in @proteanmag.com ever since it came out almost 2 yrs ago this part spoke to me the most, cuz i've been pleading with ppl to stop using this word, so i am sharing it again with y'all. "t*r*or*sm is the great weapon of the West. It is used only

Now up: Noah Kulwin reviews Seth Harp's new book, "The Fort Bragg Cartel," tracing the historical continuities between Vietnam War era drug smuggling operations and the overwhelming present-day criminality taking place at the Fort. proteanmag.com/2025/11/12/a...

Excited to be in conversation with Abby Anderson, part of the Budding Roses collective, organizers of an excellent youth liberationist project here in Portland.

That’s all very fair but my most recent story literally compares AI to Victorian grave robbers, like let’s think about who we’re piling on before going off proteanmag.com/2025/10/31/r...

Our sincere thanks to all new patrons. Your support makes a big difference. Right now, we're running up against budget constraints that limit our ability to publish. If you've ever found value in our work, we hope we can ask your help. Tiers start at just $2 a month. patreon.com/proteanmag

man it'd been a while since my last real chortle of glee

always, always, always read Mel:

I was fighting fascism with the power of love and kindness and just really getting my ass handed to me. proteanmag.com/2025/11/01/w...

pleased as ever to have work from Luke O'Neil in the magazine. these three new stories are some of my all-time favorites, but having read We Had it Coming, i highly recommend the whole thing. "I was fighting fascism with the power of love and kindness and just really getting my ass handed to me."

happy Halloween—enjoy this next entry in Protean’s tradition: we have Kim Kelly once again exploring more fascinating and macabre historical narratives, and making the case that we still show just as much ghoulish disrespect to human values and our fellows to this day.

it is SIGNIFICANTLY more dangerous to work as a school crossing guard than as a cop. apnews.com/article/scho... www.bls.gov/charts/censu...

You can still snag a print edition of our most recent print edition—Protean Magazine Issue V: Contra Temps. proteanmag.com/product/prot...

Read the ORB interview with Luke on the part of his book that was about California, and "quotes-California": www.oaklandreviewofbooks.org/we-have-the-...

get this fuckin garbage off MY GOD DAMNMED MICROSOFT WORD!!!!

this is a really, really fascinating article from Greg Afinogenov about his relative that participated in organizing before the Russian Revolution. this appeared in our third print issue—worth reading online now if you didn't get your copy at the time (in which case i still don't forgive you)

We thank you for your support of Protean Magazine. Protean depends on our Patreon members—and thanks to your generosity, we're able to continue publishing the work we love. patreon.com/proteanmag

thanks for the shoutout nathan j. robinson! talkingpointsmemo.com/tpm-25/why-i...

From the Protean Archive - “In the years since I discovered that piece of paper from the Archive of the Revolution, I have found myself pulled toward two diametrically opposite conclusions.” proteanmag.com/2024/06/16/f...

i really thought this bio was a joke at first

I have a new poem in @proteanmag.com proteanmag.com/2025/10/16/s... 💎⛰️🪞💙

a remarkable story here: Rebecca Ruth Gould was able to interview the Nasrallahs, a Gazan family, in Egypt. Rachel Corrie died to save their home in 2003—though Israel ultimately demolished it. their second home was destroyed in 2023. they remain in legal limbo in Egypt, as do many other refugees.

unless Kaiser Permanente management returns to the table at the last moment—which did happen in 2021—it looks like this gigantic cross-Kaiser walkout of 23 unions may well go forward tomorrow! i spoke with unionized healthcare staffers of the OFNHP here: truthout.org/articles/23-...

i spoke to the good folks of OFNHP AFT Local 5017 for this article about the authorization of a massive strike at Kaiser Permanente—chronic understaffing and low pay have become so intolerable, the OFNHP and 22 other Kaiser unions may walk out en masse on Tuesday. truthout.org/articles/23-...

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i just saw this lol. Jake and i both decided to show a little skin

humbly, we ask your aid—to support independent and uncompromised leftist publishing and journalism, and art and poetry too.

An excerpt of Mousa Alsadah’s foreword to the collected writings of Wasim Said, forthcoming from 1804 Books. Said is a Gazan survivor who, writing as he fled the killing, recorded stories of suffering and terror amidst "generosity, selflessness, truth[.]" proteanmag.com/2025/09/23/e...

humbly, we ask your aid—to support independent and uncompromised leftist publishing and journalism, and art and poetry too.

an elegantly argued review (which comes as no surprise, as the author is Charlotte Rosen) on a completely fascinating and morally appalling history. this spree of burning people to death for profit is one of the more grotesque indictments of capital's perverse incentives.

An awesome read to begin September. 🍁👻 @kimkelly.bsky.social proteanmag.com/2022/10/31/s...