Review: When They Come for Us We’ll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry, by Gal Beckerman https://www.booksns.com/157259/ This is not going to be an easy book to summarize… The subtitle isn't kidding when it says "epic" – this is an account of decades of activism and the oppression …

New books arrived and a) I am happy with the accurate picture they give of my nerdy interests, and b) thanks to whoever here I picked up the recommendations from

In #BookSky news, delightful to see @susanorlean.bsky.social last night, discussing her new @avidreaderpress.bsky.social memoir JOYRIDE with insightful Qs from @galbeckerman.bsky.social, as part of @theatlantic.com's ongoing festival. Wildly entertaining as always, and debuting a fantastic skirt!

I'll be chatting with the incomparable @susanorlean.bsky.social tomorrow evening as part of @theatlantic.com's festival. Join us! www.mcnallyjackson.com/atlantic-rea...

Join author Maya Arad, translator @jesscohen.bsky.social, and @galbeckerman.bsky.social, staff writer at The Atlantic, next Tuesday, Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. in discussing HAPPY NEW YEARS @barnesandnoble.com on Manhattan's Upper West Side, 2289 Broadway, NYC. stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/978006...

Such a smart and important one from @rossandersen.bsky.social

I wrote about how overwhelmed Americans have become by choice, and what we can do about it (before Trump solves the problem on his terms).

How did freedom become synonymous with having lots of options? Gal Beckerman on a recent book, "The Age of Choice," that helps explain Americans' exhaustion with "choice idolatry":

When a disgusting habit is part of your national identity, banning it might prove to be awkward. @galbeckerman.bsky.social, an ex-smoker and still a Francophile, asks if France is even France without cigarettes:

Really worth reading Cullen Murphy’s lovely remembrance of William Langewiesche, who lived several lifetimes in just 70 years but still died too young. Then, of course, you have to read Langewiesche himself… 🧵 www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

"These moments of idle nothingness—or acute presence—are a source of nostalgia for me in part because they belong to the aimlessness of youth, and because our phones have since become a constant portal to somewhere else." Uh oh: @galbeckerman.bsky.social has me pining for an American Spirit

An unexpected purpose for the technology—but the outcome here is not what I expected at all. Lovely and sober by @ibogost.bsky.social

I wrote about France's smoking ban...and me.

When a disgusting habit is part of your national identity, banning it might prove to be awkward. @galbeckerman.bsky.social, an ex-smoker and still a Francophile, asks if France is even France without cigarettes:

The Atlantic’s newest cover story, by Elizabeth Bruenig, is unforgettable. Deeply reported and beautifully written: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Edmund White, who died on Tuesday at 85, infused his life with as much pleasure as he did his writing. Gary Shteyngart on the naughty interpreter of our lives:

"He loved sex the way some of his younger contemporaries love recognition or a well-cooked egg at brunch." @shteyngart.bsky.social on Edmund White.

Can religion still have purpose for those of us who don’t believe? The show answers with a qualified yes—as long as it is religion that is never too sure of itself. There are lots of rabbis full of certainties.. “Perhaps all those who are looking for something else need you.”

I wrote about "Reformed," a show that makes dramedy out of the effort to fit religion into a secular world.

“Maybe God didn’t intend for this to be a restriction on food at all, she wondered. Maybe he was just asking people to not show off by eating fancy dishes.” Love reading @galbeckerman.bsky.social on “Reformed” and his apparently brilliant daughter (it must run in the family)

Among a growing number of charming TV rabbis, the female cleric of the French series "Reformed" stands out for leavening existential depth with comedy. Gal Beckerman on how she squares tradition and modernity:

Have you seen @galbeckerman.bsky.social's The Quiet Before? It makes this observation about social movements across a wide range of historical periods, contrasting with recent Internet-enabled flops

I wrote about the muddle that "free speech" has become, brought to a head in two incidents during commencement season.

Indeed!

Episode 6 of Cite and Sound | The Stanford Jewish Studies Podcast is here! Wherever you get your podcasts: Spotify>> open.spotify.com/episode/0U7S... Apple Podcasts>> podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c... Or here>> player.captivate.fm/episode/9e36... @galbeckerman.bsky.social

“The thing about subversiveness in a real dictatorship is it has to be so ambiguous that it’s not even clear it’s subversive,” Daniel Kehlmann tells @galbeckerman.bsky.social:

In a new novel, Daniel Kehlmann considers why the director G. W. Pabst returned to Germany to work with the Nazis, Gal Beckerman writes—and what Pabst’s career reveals about complicity?

Why Do Collaborators Do It? www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

I wrote about Daniel Kehlmann's excellent new book, "The Director," and the incremental path to moral compromise.

I couldn't help but imagine that Henry Kissinger would crack a smile at Trump's decimation of human rights and democracy-promotion. So I did a little thought experiment.

Trump is fulfilling Kissinger's dream—and then some. @galbeckerman.bsky.social on how the president is forsaking the role of morality in foreign policy without even pretending otherwise:

"Democracy, under the sway of lies, becomes a form of anarchy": Megan Garber @theatlantic.com on how Walter Lippmann's "Public Opinion," published a century ago, foresaw our current politics. www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

Megan Garber + Walter Lippmann = immediate click www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

In which my boss tells the president to his face that he is lying. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

🚨Just published 🚨 The Atlantic’s latest cover story, by @ashleyrparker.bsky.social and @michaelscherer.bsky.social, is the deeply reported story of Donald Trump, how he returned to power, and what he is going to do next www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Donald Trump told @ashleyrparker.bsky.social and @michaelscherer.bsky.social that his second term feels different from his first: “The first time, I had two things to do—run the country and survive; I had all these crooked guys,” he said. “The second time, I run the country and the world.”

Coming tomorrow is The Atlantic’s June cover story, by staff writers Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer. Ashley and Michael have interviewed President Donald Trump twice along with dozens of top advisers, senior aides, allies, and adversaries. (1/3)

Read @galbeckerman.bsky.social’s review at @theatlantic.com of Charlotte Beradt’s The Third Reich of Dreams, translated by Damion Searles and publishing next week: www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv...

I wrote about Hitler dreams...and what happens when authoritarianism enters your subconscious.

A newly reissued book documents the dreams of Germans living under Hitler, charting totalitarianism’s power over the subconscious. @galbeckerman.bsky.social on what happens when Nazis enter your dreams:

The cartoonist R. Crumb was called a sicko, a misogynist, a racist, @galbeckerman.bsky.social writes. But by dredging his subconscious, he found something the culture was craving.

The cartoonist R. Crumb was called a sicko, a misogynist, a racist, @galbeckerman.bsky.social writes. But by dredging his subconscious, he found something the culture was craving.

"When a culture moves from inquiry to reverence—with tens of millions of dollars facilitating the shift—it becomes propagandistic." @galbeckerman.bsky.social's latest: www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

Donald Trump’s diversion of grant funding to the National Garden of American Heroes represents a dangerous shift in values—from inquiry to reverence, @galbeckerman.bsky.social writes:

There is something perverse about a civilization that plunders its archives to build statues. I wrote about what Trump's reallocation of money from scholars and artists to fund monuments means for our culture.

So: What kind of dishwasher person are *you*? Ellen Cushing @theatlantic.com shows once again that she can write about pretty much anything and hit on what's interesting, funny, and deeply true. www.theatlantic.com/family/archi...

I considered the "problematic" legacy of R. Crumb for the May issue of @theatlantic.com

The cartoonist R. Crumb was called a sicko, a misogynist, a racist, @galbeckerman.bsky.social writes. But by dredging his subconscious, he found something the culture was craving.

I was very happy to be quoted today in The Atlantic in this excellent article by @galbeckerman.bsky.social: "Why It’s So Hard to Protest Trump 2.0." #50501Protest #protest www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

I wrote about protesting Trump 2.0, and why it has proven so hard.