The lesson of history is that tyrants cannot be appeased. Appeasement only feeds their insatiable hunger for power. Tyrants prey on people who feel unsafe and vulnerable. But without mass submission, a tyrant is powerless.

A friend of mine co-owns this bookstore. This is not great. www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/d...

Tired of letting algorithms divine what you care about, decide what you see, and distract you with ads? Try the Marginalian newsletter—an oasis of undistracted inspiration and illumination, free, ad-free, algorithm-free, fully human since 2006: themarginalian.org/newsletter

Hi, I’m Dana, I was the first out trans person in syndicated comics, and I draw unicorns and kids really seem to like them. Grownups too sometimes. bookshop.org/p/books/phoe...

Richard Burton’s diary, October 3rd, 1971: “It's a beautiful morning and I'm in love with my wife....I have a whole day with E and books and ships and cabbages and kings...I shall have a cup of tea or coffee and smoke a cig and read and waste myself indolently down the day.”

Yale University Press London's Little Histories window display competition has been won by Pritchards Bookshop in Crosby, Merseyside 👇 #BookSky

shoals, rocks, and breakers hereabouts: beware!

In a country where bankruptcy due to medical care costs exists, America has decided to end all preventative disease infrastructure

NEW: Huge anti-Trump protests happening across the US for Labor Day. This is the current scene in San Diego. A seemingly endless line of thousands of people on the streets! @50501movement.bsky.social #workersoverbillionaires #NoKings (🎥 10-97 News)

But now, no more words, only kisses, and many of them, for a thousand reasons, since it is Sunday. Franz Kafka, 1912.

As Trump threatens to increase ICE presence & bring the National Guard to Chicago, we're thinking about the soldiers who disobeyed & refused to serve empire. Join Aaron Hughes & Arti Walker-Peddakotla with Bill Ayers on 09/27 to talk about this history. pilsencommunitybooks.com/events/47484

Amazing that before hard drives, this is how humans stored information.

This is the make or break moment for Powell's @federalreserve.gov. If they do not defend Lisa Cook and treat her as still on the Board, the fight over the Fed as an independent agency will officially be over. see my Friday piece. www.crisesnotes.com/trump-vs-pow...

Read “Black History Minute,” a poem by Harryette Mullen from the collection Regaining Unconsciousness.

My original opinion remains unchanged; but it is only an opinion.

Few things beat supporting independent bookshops with Libro.fm audiobooks 😏 You get audiobooks ➡️ You support a small, employee-owned business, authors, and narrators ➡️ Your indie gets a portion of the sales ➡️ Your local community reaps the benefits. That's a win-win-win-win!

@tomzellerjr.com explores how medical misogyny impacted the practice of neuroscience (and the treatment of migraines).

Tired of letting algorithms divine what you care about, decide what you see, and distract you with ads? Try the Marginalian newsletter—an oasis of undistracted inspiration and illumination, free, ad-free, algorithm-free, fully human since 2006: themarginalian.org/newsletter

The short and long of it is, men, will ye spit fire or not?

I am buoyed by breaths of once living things, exhaled as air, but water now.

Sometimes it takes an Irish walking stick to hold up two authors. Photo: Beowulf Sheehan

From one of the greatest writers and greatest noticers of the 19th century, a wonderful read on the art of noticing and what artists can learn from naturalists www.themarginalian.org/2022/07/26/j...

Have YOU preordered the library at hellebore yet? @casskhaw.bsky.social isn't on here much, but I am. Consider snagging one from @merrittbookstore.bsky.social (there's a neat raffle for a cool plate!) or @mystgalaxybooks.bsky.social or @goldennotebkbooks.bsky.social (two faves)!

Making it (more than) halfway through the year calls for sharing the 25 Best Books of 2025 (So Far) 📚 Check out the full list: bookshop.org/lists/25-bes...

🙂

This Prime Day (& every day): ➡️ Support the small businesses making a positive difference ➡️ Get book recs from people who actually read—not algorithms ➡️ Visit your indie, immerse yourself in books, maybe chat with real people, & leave feeling happy ➡️ Support your indie with audiobook purchases

Last week, a Russian missile attack damaged PEN Ukraine’s Kyiv warehouse storing books to distribute to libraries on the front lines through their #UnbreakableLibraries project. The damage is yet another example of the war’s devastating impact on Ukrainian culture. pen.org.ua/en/unaslidok...

The billionaires who funded the fascist-neonazi campaign of our current regime so they could afford one more mega yacht are henceforth known as the Yachtzis.

Imprisoned online commentator and journalist Le Huu Minh Tuan must be released from prison in Vietnam, says PEN America. The medical neglect he is facing "is both cruel and inhumane." pen.org/press-releas...

John Dos Passos said it well in the overture to his U.S.A. trilogy almost a hundred years ago. Happy Independence Day, if you can keep it.

If you want to stop funding everything Amazon does and stands for, you’ve come to the right place. We’re Bookshop.org, an ethical alternative for buying books online. Every single purchase financially supports independent bookstores, allowing them to continue serving their communities.

Always love talking books @wamcradio.bsky.social . Today lots of fiction, thrillers and far away places b/c reality is too much. Give a listen under ‘Book Picks’ at wamc.org

My cartoon in this weeks @newyorker.com

SCOTUS has set a dangerous precedent in Mahmoud v. Taylor, writes Elly Brinkley, staff attorney with PEN America. It's "the latest case in recent years to use religious freedom arguments to justify decisions that infringe on other fundamental rights." www.washingtonblade.com/2025/06/30/s...

Drawings and writing on birch bark by Onfim, a 6- or 7-year-old boy who lived in Novgorod, Russia, in the mid-12th century. There are 17 preserved documents, including this one, as well as letter 199 (not pictured) that shows "a portrait of himself, disguised as a fantastic animal"

Thank you to @abfefreeexpression.bsky.social for writing so succinctly how this SCOTUS decision will impact LGBTQ youth and their families. We stand in solidarity with teachers, librarians, and especially students and their families most impacted by this decision. www.bookweb.org/news/abfe-st...

At first blush, opt-outs might sound innocuous. But the result is not simply disruption in the classroom — it is the stigmatization of topics and identities that operates as a gateway to censorship. More here: pen.org/how-opt-outs... #education #censorship

Now feels like a good time to remind people that we are an Audible alternative—every time you buy an audiobook with us, you support your indie. Oh, & we're an employee-owned, Social Purpose Corporation—meaning we make decisions that benefit our mission, even if they go against our financial goals 🩷

Tonight is huge for Cartoonist Americans as Zohran Mamdani is the first mayor of New York City with a cartoonist girlfriend

Whether you're seeking powerful poetry, gripping fiction, or illuminating historical accounts, our Juneteenth reading list offers a gateway to understanding the complex narratives that have shaped the African American experience. Happy reading and happy #Juneteenth! bookshop.org/lists/junete...

"Access to books through both public libraries and public schools is inherently an issue of democracy. When we limit access to books and information, you can’t be a well-informed, well-rounded citizen to then participate in the democracy at large." — Cody Miller, SUNY Brockport #UniteAgainstBookBans

🧵PEN America: President Trump’s decision to impose a total travel ban on nationals from 12 countries, and restrict travel and student visas for nationals from seven additional countries, will profoundly sabotage the longstanding place of the United States...

History repeating. #AbolishICE

Arthur Rackham's stunning century-old illustrations for "The Tempest" www.themarginalian.org/2019/04/03/a...

There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.

I am horror-struck at this antemosaic, unsourced existence of the unspeakable terrors of the whale

“We’re closing the door on some of the filth read before the Committee over the past two years.” So these people haven’t read any books. He’s not even familiar with Romeo & Juliet, he admits. They’ve passed a whole book banning bill based on excerpts of books they heard in committee hearings.

Stunning century-old illustrations of Tibetan fairy tales from the artist who created Disney's Bambi www.themarginalian.org/2023/05/11/j...

if you were still hoping to die from bird flu, I've got some good news for you... HHS cancels nearly $600 million Moderna contract on vaccines for flu pandemics www.statnews.com/2025/05/28/m... via @statnews.com