Critical Cul-de-Sac
Contemporary film criticism increasingly takes the form of a ceaseless hunt for hidden messages in movies. In addition to producing outlandish interpretations, it is also confusing the role of art in society.
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Big Public Power from the River
The Tennessee Valley Authority was about more than electrification. It was a complex project of building state and public planning capacity geared toward rapid ecological restoration of the entire region. For impoverished farmers, it was nothing short of life changing.
Big Public Power from the Atom
Big public power in the last century applied the elemental potential of water toward social ends. The big public power of tomorrow should revolve around the elemental potential of the atom.
One or the Other
Letting people struggling with drug abuse run themselves into a decrepit state with no social provisions or adequate forms of drug treatment is a tragic mistake. So too is trying to revive a drug prohibitionism that only ever works at the cost of extending the rot of contemporary society.
Pseudo-Leviathans
John Gray believes the modern state is a new totalitarian entity promising not freedom but the much lesser good of “meaning” through security and a progressive identity. But the “new Leviathans” are much weaker than he lets on.
Build Stuff and Make Things
To fix what deindustrialization broke, manufacturing still matters—don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
After the Damage is Done
The United States’ oil and gas infrastructure blight is massive. The Abandoned Wells Administration could clean it up.
