Articles

What’s the Point of Museums?

Roger Berkowitz
There is a yearning for a truly non-biased and fully-inclusive museum. And since such a museum and such a show cannot exist, one group of curators have asked, "What's the Point of Museums?"

What we learned

The midterm elections saw many crazy Trump-identified candidates lose, which dragged down the Republican Party and allowed the Democrats to hold the Senate. As of now, however, Republican candidates did win the popular vote. What is more, the Republicans continued to make strong inroads into core Democratic constituencies in Hispanic and Black voters, as well as college-educated white women in the suburbs.

Realists, Optimists, and Revisionists

Roger Berkowitz
As Ukraine consolidates its victories in the South, it is worth asking, when and how will this war end? Ivan Krastev asks this question and outlines three different positions, the realists, the optimists, and the revisionists. 

An Aesthetic Find

Roger Berkowitz
Of all of Hegel’s great works, only the Aesthetics has not yet existed in a complete form. That may change.

A Cultural Breakdown

Roger Berkowitz
Political violence is on the rise. The attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband this week is only the latest example. 

Regrets

Roger Berkowitz
In June 2020, The New York Times published an op-ed in which Senator Tom Cotton argued in favor of using federal troops in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. In an essay published over two years after the controversy, the Washington Post's Erik Wemple writes that he and others should have defended the decision by the times.

Will the Youth Turn Right?

Roger Berkowitz
​​​​​​​N.S. Lyons explores an argument made Angela Nagle in her book Who Killed All the Normies? That the moral probity of the left will eventually strangle the energy of the movement and turn young and rebellious free thinkers to the right.

Legally, The Whole Ballgame

Roger Berkowitz
On December 7th, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case of Moore v. Harper, a case that may very well influence the fate of the American Republic.
 

1619 to 2022

Roger Berkowitz
I’ve been teaching the 1619 Project in classes this week. I was excited to see that Mark Weitzmann has a long essay exploring Nikole Hannah Jones and the controversy around the 1619 Project as a rorschach test for the American discourse on race.