The Baffler
@thebaffler.com
đ€ 25996
đ„ 101
đ 3203
Political and cultural criticism. Since 1988. Online and in print.
https://thebaffler.com/
pinned post!
Dedicated to the mercenary and the freelancer, Baffler no. 83 contemplates the gigification of American life and privatization of conflict around the world, with stories on private militaries, foreign capital, and the impossibility of making a living as a writer.
thebaffler.com/issues/no-83
2 months ago
0
20
8
To help pay her way through an obscenely expensive MFA program, May Syeda hustled as a professional cuddler, working with clients whose needs and expectations were not always obvious. This is her story:
thebaffler.com/odds-and-end...
about 10 hours ago
0
5
0
âAt the end of the day, condoms canât put a roof over your head or clothes on your back, and PrEP isnât going to end homophobia or white supremacy.â
loading . . .
When My Brothers Fell | Dan Royles
In some parts of the Atlanta, which serves as a mecca for Black gay men from all over the South, the rates of new HIV/AIDS cases are as much as eight times the national average.
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/when-my-brothers-fell-royles?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=archival
about 12 hours ago
0
6
2
The World Pear Collection hosts two of every pear varietal on earthâover two thousand species from fifty-five countriesâand one summer, poet Timmy Straw worked in a lab tending to the fruit.
loading . . .
The Profession That Does Not Exist | Baffler Symposium
A partial history of the hidden labor that makes possible the poems, stories, essays, and books you read.
https://thebaffler.com/odds-and-ends/the-profession-that-does-not-exist-symposium#forum-piece-a-pear-is-a-pear
about 13 hours ago
0
5
0
âReading âWhat They Stole,â itâs hard not to emerge with the impression that Ethan, Seth, Mira, and Eleanorâand tens of thousands of other children like themânever should have been taken from South Korea at all.â
loading . . .
God Save the Children | Kristen Martin
Harry and Bertha Holt were called by God to âsaveâ multiracial Korean childrenâmany of whom did not need saving.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/god-save-the-children-martin
about 15 hours ago
0
4
2
reposted by
The Baffler
Tony Hao
7 days ago
My conversation with Xiao Hai about his debut memoir
#AdriftInTheSouth
. Thank you
@thebaffler.com
thebaffler.com/latest/poetr...
loading . . .
Poetry from the Factory Floor | Tony Hao
People should pay closer attention to our true state of being within and beyond our workplace.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/poetry-from-the-factory-floor-hao#footnote1
0
6
1
reposted by
The Baffler
Kristen Martin
4 days ago
The South Korean gov't has recently begun to investigate its role in fraudulent adoptions. For
@thebaffler.com
, I reviewed a new book about how a messianic quest to âsaveâ Korean children created the intercountry adoption industry and is bound up with a familicide:
thebaffler.com/latest/god-s...
loading . . .
God Save the Children | Kristen Martin
Harry and Bertha Holt were called by God to âsaveâ multiracial Korean childrenâmany of whom did not need saving.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/god-save-the-children-martin
0
70
38
The experimental imprint MCD is closing its doors. As
@spiccarella.bsky.social
writes, one of their final novels describes the grandiosity and fragility of literary institutionsâa biting metacommentary on the obsolescence of language.
loading . . .
Society of the Spectacle | Stephen Piccarella
Images are everywhere. It takes great strength of character to believe thereâs something else to see.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/society-of-the-spectacle-piccarella
about 18 hours ago
0
4
0
Itâs Pride Month. Under Trump 2.0, money for HIV/AIDS prevention and research has plummeted. It will disproportionately impact the poorest. From the Archives: Dan Royles writes on the epidemic and the activists organizing to end it in Georgia.
loading . . .
When My Brothers Fell | Dan Royles
In some parts of the Atlanta, which serves as a mecca for Black gay men from all over the South, the rates of new HIV/AIDS cases are as much as eight times the national average.
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/when-my-brothers-fell-royles?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=archival
about 19 hours ago
1
11
6
In the spring of 2024, Drew Basile won $132,000 on âJeopardy!â That didnât necessarily make him a shoe-in at the International Quizzing Championships, where triviaâs best and brightest answer questions that get harder and more obscure by the year.
loading . . .
The Loneliness of the Competitive Quizzer | Drew Basile
Quiz is many things to the disciple. It is not simply trivia. It is not simply a hobby. It verges, for the believer, on a way of life.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/the-loneliness-of-the-competitive-quizzer-basile
about 20 hours ago
0
3
0
In âWhat They Stole,â Paige Towers unpacks the harrowing costs of a geopolitical social experiment that Bertha and Harry Holt began in 1955: an intercountry adoption scheme ordained by God.
loading . . .
God Save the Children | Kristen Martin
Harry and Bertha Holt were called by God to âsaveâ multiracial Korean childrenâmany of whom did not need saving.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/god-save-the-children-martin
1 day ago
0
6
2
âThe distance between metaphor and reality can appear daunting, even hazardous, but in âThe Vivisectors,â itâs a philosophical verity, an eternal function of the tension between nature and culture.â
loading . . .
Society of the Spectacle | Stephen Piccarella
Images are everywhere. It takes great strength of character to believe thereâs something else to see.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/society-of-the-spectacle-piccarella
1 day ago
0
3
0
Competitive quizzers might spend decades memorizing ceaseless, decontextualized facts in the hopes of achieving the sum total of human knowledgeâor something like it. The best among them test their mettle at International Quizzing Championships.
loading . . .
The Loneliness of the Competitive Quizzer | Drew Basile
Quiz is many things to the disciple. It is not simply trivia. It is not simply a hobby. It verges, for the believer, on a way of life.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/the-loneliness-of-the-competitive-quizzer-basile
2 days ago
0
2
1
Missouri WIlliamsâs first novel seemed to emerge from another world. Her follow-up reshuffles our own, with rhetorical anxieties about free speech, moral panics, and institutional malfunction inset into a prismatic narrative of mania and multiplicity.
loading . . .
Society of the Spectacle | Stephen Piccarella
Images are everywhere. It takes great strength of character to believe thereâs something else to see.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/society-of-the-spectacle-piccarella
3 days ago
0
6
1
âBrokawâs âgreatest generationâ tag made the rebuke explicit, leaving us dazed and chagrined at our bad luck in not having got to live through the Depression and Hitler.â
loading . . .
Fables of Our Fathers | Tom Carson
The realization was dawning that Daddy was going to die soon, and theyâd better make amends.
http://thebaffler.com/salvos/fables-of-our-fathers-carson?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=archival
3 days ago
2
8
2
Xiao Hai first started writing poetry on the floor of a factory. Tony Hao talks with the Chinese poet about the literature of ânew workersââsometimes called âmigrant workersââand his new book, âAdrift in the South.â
loading . . .
Poetry from the Factory Floor | Tony Hao
People should pay closer attention to our true state of being within and beyond our workplace.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/poetry-from-the-factory-floor-hao
3 days ago
0
7
0
âFor those of us who canât find steady employment, the televised quiz show is a strange shadow play of knowledge-work, where facts can convert into dollars. But the real world doesnât work this way.â
loading . . .
The Loneliness of the Competitive Quizzer | Drew Basile
Quiz is many things to the disciple. It is not simply trivia. It is not simply a hobby. It verges, for the believer, on a way of life.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/the-loneliness-of-the-competitive-quizzer-basile
3 days ago
0
9
0
After the end of the Korean War, hundreds of thousands of children were adopted by foreigners, many with the help of Holt International. âWhat They Stoleâ describes the organizationâs fraudulent and ethically dubious practices.
loading . . .
God Save the Children | Kristen Martin
Harry and Bertha Holt were called by God to âsaveâ multiracial Korean childrenâmany of whom did not need saving.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/god-save-the-children-martin
4 days ago
2
13
3
âThe genie was let out of the bottle decades ago, and the privatization of warfare is no longer exceptional, nor is it an unfortunate trend that can be reversed.â
loading . . .
Warfare in a Box | Benjamin Fogel
South Africaâs Executive Outcomes offered a modern army for hire.
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/warfare-in-a-box-fogel
4 days ago
0
8
0
Nostalgia has always been Americaâs favorite substitute for actual historyâthe more saccharine the better. Back in 2016, Tom Carson wrote on our long-standing obsession with WWII and how the âGreatest Generationâ got its name.
loading . . .
Fables of Our Fathers | Tom Carson
The realization was dawning that Daddy was going to die soon, and theyâd better make amends.
http://thebaffler.com/salvos/fables-of-our-fathers-carson?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=archival
4 days ago
1
3
0
âThat the narrator is of the unreliable variety is hardly worth mentioning, but âThe Vivisectorsâ is not just about whether its narrator means what she says. Itâs about what we risk, and what we stand to gain, by taking her at her word.â
loading . . .
Society of the Spectacle | Stephen Piccarella
Images are everywhere. It takes great strength of character to believe thereâs something else to see.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/society-of-the-spectacle-piccarella
4 days ago
0
2
2
What drives a person to competitive quizzing? Maybe itâs the prize money or the desire to prove oneself. Maybe itâs a love of knowledge or love of the game. But maybe itâs the same force that draws crowds to bar trivia: a search for camaraderie.
loading . . .
The Loneliness of the Competitive Quizzer | Drew Basile
Quiz is many things to the disciple. It is not simply trivia. It is not simply a hobby. It verges, for the believer, on a way of life.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/the-loneliness-of-the-competitive-quizzer-basile
4 days ago
0
5
2
Harry and Bertha Holt were sent on a mission by God to help âsaveâ multiracial Korean children. They were woefully unfit.
@kwistent.bsky.social
writes on a new book about the perils of intercountry adoption.
loading . . .
God Save the Children | Kristen Martin
Harry and Bertha Holt were called by God to âsaveâ multiracial Korean childrenâmany of whom did not need saving.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/god-save-the-children-martin
4 days ago
0
3
3
âLiterature was not a diversion but a weapon. I had nothing but literature, I had nothing but my passion. I used words to carve my own path through unknown, dangerous territories.â
loading . . .
Poetry from the Factory Floor | Tony Hao
People should pay closer attention to our true state of being within and beyond our workplace.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/poetry-from-the-factory-floor-hao
4 days ago
0
3
0
In Missouri Williamsâs new novel, a decadent society eats itself alive amid cultural wars, scandals, protest, and geopolitical disintegration. Allegorical? Certainly, but so rife with meanings and misunderstandings that it is an all-purpose apocalypse.
loading . . .
Society of the Spectacle | Stephen Piccarella
Images are everywhere. It takes great strength of character to believe thereâs something else to see.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/society-of-the-spectacle-piccarella
4 days ago
0
12
4
âThey were sacrificing their lives to learning, in a constant and unending task which almost no one could or would appreciate, which the market certainly wouldnât reward. But questions would only get harder. The facts more obscure.â
loading . . .
The Loneliness of the Competitive Quizzer | Drew Basile
Quiz is many things to the disciple. It is not simply trivia. It is not simply a hobby. It verges, for the believer, on a way of life.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/the-loneliness-of-the-competitive-quizzer-basile
5 days ago
0
3
0
Decades of right-wing governance and anti-labor legislation has made Texas a hospitable place for foreign tech investment. And as Gabriel Antonio Solis points out in our new issue, its borderlandsâand proximity to Mexicoâsweeten the deal.
loading . . .
Democracy Chips | Gabriel Antonio Solis
Texas has become a hub for Taiwanese firms hoping to take advantage of maquiladoras just over the border.
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/democracy-chips-antonio-solis
5 days ago
0
3
2
âMigrant workers,â ânew workers,â or âbattlersââa growing group of laborers in China are bringing their experience of the factory floor into poetry and literature. Tony Hao talks with Xiao Hai, the author of âAdrift in the South.â
loading . . .
Poetry from the Factory Floor | Tony Hao
People should pay closer attention to our true state of being within and beyond our workplace.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/poetry-from-the-factory-floor-hao
5 days ago
0
3
0
âWe went from respecting our eldersâ sacrifices, which was only right, to envying themâwhich was lunatic.â
loading . . .
Fables of Our Fathers | Tom Carson
The realization was dawning that Daddy was going to die soon, and theyâd better make amends.
http://thebaffler.com/salvos/fables-of-our-fathers-carson?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=archival
5 days ago
0
3
0
Part campus novel, part scandal sheet, Missouri Williamsâs second novel is a prism in which every explanation is doubled and the reader canât help but catch their distorted reflection in the glass.
@spiccarella.bsky.social
reviews âThe Vivisectors.â
loading . . .
Society of the Spectacle | Stephen PIccarella
Images are everywhere. It takes great strength of character to believe thereâs something else to see.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/society-of-the-spectacle-piccarella
5 days ago
0
2
1
âFor every Taiwanese firm opening a logistics hub or assembly plant in Texas, a much larger maquiladora seemingly exists to pair with it in northern Mexico.â
loading . . .
Democracy Chips | Gabriel Antonio Solis
Texas has become a hub for Taiwanese firms hoping to take advantage of maquiladoras just over the border.
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/democracy-chips-antonio-solis
5 days ago
0
1
0
The International Quizzing Championships is perhaps the most prestigiousâand difficultâtrivia tournament in the world. We sent Drew Basile, a âJeopardy!â champion, to investigate.
loading . . .
The Loneliness of the Competitive Quizzer | Drew Basile
Quiz is many things to the disciple. It is not simply trivia. It is not simply a hobby. It verges, for the believer, on a way of life.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/the-loneliness-of-the-competitive-quizzer-basile
5 days ago
0
1
0
In a preview from our upcoming issue, Andrew Norman Wilson photographs the legacy of the late sculptor David Adickes: a collection of massive concrete-and-steel busts of every U.S. president from Washington to Obama.
loading . . .
Nobodaddies | Andrew Norman Wilson
David Adickesâs made two-story-tall busts of the U.S. presidents, ending with Barack Obama. They need a new home.
https://thebaffler.com/odds-and-ends/nobodaddies-norman-wilson
5 days ago
0
6
1
In 2025 alone, Taiwanese tech firms invested more than $5.3b in Texas. Why are they spending so much? The answer lies south of the border, where land is abundant, labor is cheap, and goods need only travel a few miles to reach their markets.
loading . . .
Democracy Chips | Gabriel Antonio Solis
Texas has become a hub for Taiwanese firms hoping to take advantage of maquiladoras just over the border.
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/democracy-chips-antonio-solis
6 days ago
0
4
1
âAdickes passed away at the age of ninety-eight in the summer of 2025, and the Houston studio housing one full set of the busts, beneath the I-69 overpass at I-10, is scheduled to close in mid-2026.â
loading . . .
Nobodaddies | Andrew Norman Wilson
David Adickesâs made two-story-tall busts of the U.S. presidents, ending with Barack Obama. They need a new home.
https://thebaffler.com/odds-and-ends/nobodaddies-norman-wilson
6 days ago
1
2
0
âAdrift in the Southâ follows Xiao Haiâs thirty-eight years of life, from his childhood in rural Henan to his stints working in factories across Southern China. Tony Hao talks with the author about ânew workerâ literature, poetry, and Bob Dylan.
loading . . .
Poetry from the Factory Floor | Tony Hao
People should pay closer attention to our true state of being within and beyond our workplace.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/poetry-from-the-factory-floor-hao
6 days ago
0
6
0
Baffler no. 84, âGlobal Texas,â arrives next week. In this preview from our new issue, Gabriel Antonio Solis describes Taiwanâs tech investments in the Lone Star State and the maquiladora factories south of the border.
loading . . .
Democracy Chips | Gabriel Antonio Solis
Texas has become a hub for Taiwanese firms hoping to take advantage of maquiladoras just over the border.
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/democracy-chips-antonio-solis
6 days ago
0
10
2
When did Americaâs World War II ancestor worship begin? Back in 2016, Tom Carson explained how we came to canonize the âGreatest Generation.â
loading . . .
Fables of Our Fathers | Tom Carson
The realization was dawning that Daddy was going to die soon, and theyâd better make amends.
http://thebaffler.com/salvos/fables-of-our-fathers-carson?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=archival
6 days ago
0
1
1
The Baffler has proudly published ball-busting reportage and scintillating criticism since 1988. Get a year of our print magazine for just $50.
loading . . .
Subscribe to The Baffler Today
Weâre making it easier than ever to join The Bafflerâs far-flung disaffiliates program, which currently has subscribers across the world. When you subscribe, youâll receive five issues of commentaryâŠ
https://thebaffler.com/subscriptions/social-referral
6 days ago
0
2
1
âReaders have stopped regarding the most established writers as godlike figures, and they want more truthful documentations of life.â
loading . . .
Poetry from the Factory Floor | Tony Hao
People should pay closer attention to our true state of being within and beyond our workplace.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/poetry-from-the-factory-floor-hao
7 days ago
0
8
2
âA deep truth about Melanie: She had a time bomb in her face. Several. Not the way all human faces are time bombsâthe sinking, the sagging, the drying up, the dropping, the dying, and finally dead.â
loading . . .
Plastic Is My Second-Favorite Substance | Deb Olin Unferth
Make yourself new. Leave the past behind. That wasnât you anyway.
https://thebaffler.com/fiction/plastic-is-my-second-favorite-substance-unferth
7 days ago
0
2
2
In 2024, EA players devoted 13 billion hours to its games. Thatâs a lot of eyeballs that now belong to the companyâs new owners: the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
loading . . .
End Games | Corey Pein
Mohammed bin Salman makes another foray into sportswashingâby flooding the video game industry with cash.
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/end-games-pein
7 days ago
0
3
2
From the Archives: Tom Carson writes on how the âGreatest Generationâ became sacrosanct props for the government and the media.
loading . . .
Fables of Our Fathers | Tom Carson
The realization was dawning that Daddy was going to die soon, and theyâd better make amends.
http://thebaffler.com/salvos/fables-of-our-fathers-carson?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=archival
7 days ago
0
6
2
The idea of Wales as a country is relatively new. Scotland enjoyed centuries of independence before joining with England, but thereâs never been a fully unified Welsh state. A resurgent Welsh nationalism aims to reconcile this history.
loading . . .
Weâre Still Here? | Henry Rees-Sheridan
Welsh national life has a peculiar textureâand Welsh politics is correspondingly exceptionalâbut in ways difficult to see at first glance.
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/were-still-here-rees-sheridan
7 days ago
1
7
1
Xiao Hai is among the hundreds of millions of Chinese people who can be called migrant workers. In his new book âAdrift in the South,â the poet traces his life as a laborer in the twenty-first century, making everything from iPhones to baby clothes.
loading . . .
Poetry from the Factory Floor | Tony Hao
People should pay closer attention to our true state of being within and beyond our workplace.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/poetry-from-the-factory-floor-hao
7 days ago
0
8
0
âWhile it is admittedly a misdemeanor in most jurisdictions to impersonate a firefighter for profit, it can be a felony to impersonate a cop.â
loading . . .
Bad Lieutenants | Molly Matalon with Charlotte Shane
It is the nature of authority to court its deflation.
https://thebaffler.com/odds-and-ends/bad-lieutenants-matalon-with-charlotte-shane
8 days ago
1
1
0
Melanie has gotten every plastic surgery available: fiberglass implants, ânonabsorbableâ beads, the Regenerator. But in âPlastic Is My Second-Favorite Substance,â Melanie just may find that most elusive of treatments: love.
loading . . .
Plastic Is My Second-Favorite Substance | Deb Olin Unferth
Make yourself new. Leave the past behind. That wasnât you anyway.
https://thebaffler.com/fiction/plastic-is-my-second-favorite-substance-unferth
8 days ago
1
1
1
Over 1 million households in New York City experience food insecurityâand thatâs only going to get worse when cuts to SNAP go into place. Jeff Weinstein catalogues the public and private endeavors to address the need.
loading . . .
Hunger Games | Jeff Weinstein
We must sweep leftovers of any kind off the bargaining table.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/hunger-games-weinstein
8 days ago
2
10
2
Yes, Saudi Arabia is buying its way into the video game industry. Yes, this poses a threat to free speech, and will impact what titles get released. But American corporate acquisitions have the same chilling effect. Consider the case of âThe Outer Worlds.â
loading . . .
End Games | Corey Pein
Mohammed bin Salman makes another foray into sportswashingâby flooding the video game industry with cash.
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/end-games-pein
8 days ago
0
10
1
Walesâs center-left nationalist party long struggled to differentiate itself from Labour. But things are changing for Plaid Cymruâit won the Senedd election earlier this month. Henry Rees-Sheridan considers Welsh identity at a crossroads:
loading . . .
Weâre Still Here? | Henry Rees-Sheridan
Welsh national life has a peculiar textureâand Welsh politics is correspondingly exceptionalâbut in ways difficult to see at first glance.
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/were-still-here-rees-sheridan
8 days ago
0
1
1
For the male dancer making house calls, firefighter and construction worker are common requests. So, too, is police officerâthough that costume is more politically fraught these days.
loading . . .
Bad Lieutenants | Molly Matalon with Charlotte Shane
It is the nature of authority to court its deflation.
https://thebaffler.com/odds-and-ends/bad-lieutenants-matalon-with-charlotte-shane
9 days ago
1
4
1
Load more
feeds!
log in
