Is black trauma porn over?

Monk Ellison, a struggling black college professor, writes My Pafology as a prank: the stereotype-laden novel is a clapback at the publishers who equate “Black stories” with tropes of poverty, brutality, and violence.

But the joke, as it turns out, …

Centrist McCarthyism is taking hold

Why are so many working-class voters rebelling against the centre-left? For those establishment politicians being spurned in favour of populist movements, there is a straightforward answer: the masses, in turning away, are ignorant, delusional and bigoted.

Nowhere is this more …

The dawn of America’s monarchy

When James II was deposed in 1688, and replaced by William of Orange, it was a bloodless affair. That so-called “Glorious Revolution” gave England a constitutional monarchy — as well as a remarkably nonviolent political order.

In the centuries that …

Why Ozempic is cheating

Ten years ago, I was moved to tears by a fruit salad. I was on a stationary bicycle at the gym, half-heartedly scrolling Tumblr while my feet pushed the pedals, and suddenly, there it was: a tapestry of blueberries, blackberries, …

Polyamory is a luxury belief

What happens when the fantasy of getting everything you want collides with cold, hard reality? Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility attempts to answer that question by plotting the love lives of two young women: the cool-headed, pragmatic Elinor Dashwood, and …