A review of How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler (2024), by Peter Pomerantsev.
Articles
Tragedies give pleasure because they make room for art. Published in "Missing Character," Vol. 26, No. 1.
Why today's storytellers are so bad at imagining the future.
The saving grace of Jewish-American comedy. Part of the Shadow Play article series.
The future of A.I. in Hollywood -- and beyond. Part of the Shadow Play article series.
What Pleasants found in the Afro-American idiom was a body of music intended to comfort the afflicted. Published in "Theological Variations," Vol. 25, No. 2.
James Cameron's new Avatar meets Xi Jinping's new China. Part of the Shadow Play article series.
A review of Plato Goes to China (2023), by Shadi Bartsch.
A review of Cold War Radio (2022), by Mark G. Pomar.
The BBC series Wolf Hall is as beautifully cut, fitted, embroidered, and bejeweled as the heavy, intimidating garments of the Tudor nobility. Part of the Shadow Play article series.
A review of The Socratic Method (2021), by Ward Farnsworth.
Borgen, the celebrated Danish TV series about power, politics, and media, puts Hollywood in the shade. Part of the Shadow Play article series.
Putin continues to play the Third Rome card that has brought him this far. Published in "The Use and Abuse of History," Vol. 24, No. 2.
The ghost of Neville Chamberlain. Part of the Shadow Play article series.
The history of US foreign-language media, and its future under Michael Pack.
Spielberg's West Side Story is a masterpiece based on a masterpiece. Part of the Shadow Play article series.
A review of Rescuing Socrates (2021), by Roosevelt Montás.
The satirical Netflix series The Chair is not sharp enough to draw blood. Part of the Shadow Play article series.
The film Nomadland expands the scope and meaning of the book that inspired it. Part of the Shadow Play article series.
The national “conversation” on race is stuck in replay.
Are America's cultural exports worse than junk food? Part of the Shadow Play article series.
The great novel of the Western Front, adapted for television. Part of the Shadow Play article series.
Big problems with Greta Gerwig's Little Women. Part of the Shadow Play article series.