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Thursday, June 26

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“The Gilded Age” Is a Poor Man’s Period Drama

The HBO series is peppered with references to real-life personages and historical events—but it lacks the anything-goes energy of the era in which it’s set.

The Maine, the Myth, and the Legend of Cooper Flagg

How did a rural town in an isolated corner of the country produce the consensus no. 1 pick in the NBA draft?

Content Moderation Is Not Censorship
Renée DiResta, Law & Liberty
The Radicality of Marriage
John Milbank, Cracks in Postmodernity
The Rise of Pro Wrestling in the American Psyche
Marc Raimondi, LitHub
Inside a Biohacking Conference Emboldened by MAHA
Will Bahr, Wired
Trump’s Return to Shakespearean Politics
Matthew Gasda, UnHerd
Hollywood’s Gay Golden Age
Michael Koresky, Air Mail
A Second Sexual Revolution?
Elizabeth Nolan Brown, Reason
NFL Player Turned to Psychedelics to Help With His OCD
Ben Morse, CNN
Rehearsing for the Apocalypse
Anna Marie Cain, Los Angeles Review of Books
Model Collapse
Katya Grishakova, The Metropolitan Review
The Man Crisis and ‘Iron John’ at 35
Mark Judge, Chronicles
Forget Therapy. Do Men Need Book Clubs?
Joseph Bernstein, The New York Times
Seth Rogen’s Toothless Hollywood Satire
Vikram Murthi, The Nation
Planned Man's Links of the Day
Podcast: Hawks and Doves by Compact
Available this week: "Stop All the Clocks" by Noah Kumin
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American Civics

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Essential Reading

Florida State's Novel Civics Program
Liberty is the lifeblood of America, but it flourishes only when citizens understand the ideas that sustain...
James Madison’s Appeal to Reasonable Discourse
On June 8, 1789, James Madison rose before Congress and performed an about-face. The founder who had...

In the News

Multimedia

The Long Road to Juneteenth
Lincoln’s Prophetic Statesmanship with Edward Erler
Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation

Censorship

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Essential Reading

May Aliens Be Deported Based on Their Speech?
The answer, oddly, isn't settled.
The COVID-era Smearing—and Resurrection—of Trump NIH Appointee Dr. Jay Bhattacharya
Bhattacharya’s path from health policy scholar to NIH director nominee is pockmarked with craters from missiles launched to destroy his scientific credibility by NIH leaders and their minions in academia.

In the News

Multimedia

Zuckerberg Ending Censorship on Facebook: "The Fact-Checkers Have Just Been Too Politically Biased"
John Kerry Tells WEF: Our First Amendment Stands As A Major Block Against Hammering Disinformation Out of Existence
House Committee Rips State Department Over Censorship

More From Real Clear

Myths from the Earth's Edge
DJ Casper's 'Cha Cha Slide'
The Bridge Scene from William Friedkin's "Sorcerer"
"The French Connection" Car Chase

RealClearBooks Wednesday

“F1” is a Well-Tooled Engine of Entertainment

The destination of this comeback narrative starring Brad Pitt may be predictable, but Joseph Kosinski’s direction insures thrillingly tight turns en route.

The WNBA Is a Perfectly Choreographed TV Drama

Women's basketball is bigger than ever on television.

The Art of Letting Go
Peter James, The Metropolitan Review
The Second Coming of America’s Funniest Writer
Itxu Diaz, Law & Liberty
Not Reading or Writing Would Be Unthinkable
James Marriott, The Times
Can Literacy Be Saved?
M.D. Aeschliman, Modern Age
A Portrait of the Scholar
Michael O'Donnell, The American Scholar
The Real Reason Men Should Read Fiction
Jeremy Gordon, The Atlantic
Ranking Spielberg Movies
Josh Rosenberg & Eric Francisco & Brady Langmann, Esquire
Alison Bechdel’s Non-Memoir, Memoir
David Plotz, Slate
Exams Are Good for Children
Lola Salem, The Critic
Is the NBA Draft Rigged?
B. Duncan Moench, UnHerd
What You Need to Know Before Watching ‘Ironheart’
Daniel Chin, The Ringer
During Pride Libraries Become Centers for Queer Resistance
John Murawski, RCI
Is Ownership Over?
G.B. Rango, Pirate Wires

“The Gilded Age” Is a Poor Man’s Period Drama

The HBO series is peppered with references to real-life personages and historical events—but it lacks the anything-goes energy of the era in which it’s set.

The Maine, the Myth, and the Legend of Cooper Flagg

How did a rural town in an isolated corner of the country produce the consensus no. 1 pick in the NBA draft?

Content Moderation Is Not Censorship

Renée DiResta, Law & Liberty

Tori Tinsley’s recent essay, “When Social Media Obscures Truth,” laments the state of public discourse, warns against... Read More

The Radicality of Marriage

John Milbank, Cracks in Postmodernity

Marriage is the most truly subversive act that both founds democracy and yet renders it absolute in terms of its commitment to the common... Read More

The Rise of Pro Wrestling in the American Psyche

Marc Raimondi, LitHub

In the late 1970s, Terry Bollea debuted as a wrestler in his home state of Florida. He worked the territory circuit for two years in Memphis... Read More

Inside a Biohacking Conference Emboldened by MAHA

Will Bahr, Wired

I have been to the undying convention. I have been pressurized in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber and bathed in flickering gamma-wave light. I... Read More

Trump’s Return to Shakespearean Politics

Matthew Gasda, UnHerd

Israel’s attack on Iran has been, and continues to be, negotiated largely in public — on X and Truth Social. This is not fully... Read More

Hollywood’s Gay Golden Age

Michael Koresky, Air Mail

We can be uncharitable to the past. It makes us feel appropriately enlightened to assume a certain naïveté about how people used... Read More

A Second Sexual Revolution?

Elizabeth Nolan Brown, Reason

Young people today are having too much sex. Wait, no, maybe they're not having enough sex. And when they do have sex, it's the wrong... Read More

NFL Player Turned to Psychedelics to Help With His OCD

Ben Morse, CNN

While NFL players were in the trenches of a grueling season, Braden Smith was fighting a different battle: the one going on inside his own... Read More

Rehearsing for the Apocalypse

Anna Marie Cain, Los Angeles Review of Books

WHEN KAREN RUSSELL STARTED writing her new novel The Antidote, Trump hadn’t yet gained a second term. When we spoke in March, Trump... Read More

Model Collapse

Katya Grishakova, The Metropolitan Review

A peculiar development is on hand. The people in power, the people who make the news and shape history, no longer want to wait for someone to... Read More

The Man Crisis and ‘Iron John’ at 35

Mark Judge, Chronicles

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the publication of poet Robert Bly’s massive bestseller and ’90s cultural... Read More

Forget Therapy. Do Men Need Book Clubs?

Joseph Bernstein, The New York Times

For the first meeting of his book club for men, Yahdon Israel, a 35-year-old senior editor at Simon & Schuster, asked the participants to... Read More

Seth Rogen’s Toothless Hollywood Satire

Vikram Murthi, The Nation

In Robert Altman’s The Player (1992), a studio exec named Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) kills a screenwriter in cold blood. He mistakenly... Read More

American Civics

Sponsored Curation Powered By:

Essential Reading

Florida State's Novel Civics Program
Liberty is the lifeblood of America, but it flourishes only when citizens understand the ideas that sustain...
James Madison’s Appeal to Reasonable Discourse
On June 8, 1789, James Madison rose before Congress and performed an about-face. The founder who had...

In the News

Multimedia

The Long Road to Juneteenth
Lincoln’s Prophetic Statesmanship with Edward Erler
Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation

Censorship

Sponsored Curation Powered By:

Essential Reading

May Aliens Be Deported Based on Their Speech?
The answer, oddly, isn't settled.
The COVID-era Smearing—and Resurrection—of Trump NIH Appointee Dr. Jay Bhattacharya
Bhattacharya’s path from health policy scholar to NIH director nominee is pockmarked with craters from missiles launched to destroy his scientific credibility by NIH leaders and their minions in academia.

In the News

Multimedia

Zuckerberg Ending Censorship on Facebook: "The Fact-Checkers Have Just Been Too Politically Biased"
John Kerry Tells WEF: Our First Amendment Stands As A Major Block Against Hammering Disinformation Out of Existence
House Committee Rips State Department Over Censorship

More From Real Clear

Myths from the Earth's Edge
DJ Casper's 'Cha Cha Slide'
The Bridge Scene from William Friedkin's "Sorcerer"
"The French Connection" Car Chase

RealClearBooks Wednesday

“F1” is a Well-Tooled Engine of Entertainment

The destination of this comeback narrative starring Brad Pitt may be predictable, but Joseph Kosinski’s direction insures thrillingly tight turns en route.

The WNBA Is a Perfectly Choreographed TV Drama

Women's basketball is bigger than ever on television.

The Art of Letting Go

Peter James, The Metropolitan Review

“I have been on the road for the last five months . . . really thinking the worst of people.” This is how comedian Bill Burr... Read More

The Second Coming of America’s Funniest Writer

Itxu Diaz, Law & Liberty

Though P. J. O’Rourke passed away three years ago, his sharp wit and defense of freedom continue to resonate in a world still tempted... Read More

Not Reading or Writing Would Be Unthinkable

James Marriott, The Times

‘I write to find out what I’m thinking” ran the motto of the great American journalist Joan Didion. Anybody whose job... Read More

Can Literacy Be Saved?

M.D. Aeschliman, Modern Age

The crisis in American elementary-school literacy has been apparent for decades. Thankfully, E. D. Hirsch’s Core Knowledge curriculum,... Read More

A Portrait of the Scholar

Michael O'Donnell, The American Scholar

Does biography illuminate the work of an artist? James Joyce slyly poked at this age-old question in his 1922 novel Ulysses. In one of the... Read More

The Real Reason Men Should Read Fiction

Jeremy Gordon, The Atlantic

There’s always something going on with men. They can’t make friends; they’re very lonely;... Read More

Ranking Spielberg Movies

Josh Rosenberg & Eric Francisco & Brady Langmann, Esquire

Ask any of your friends to name their favorite Steven Spielberg movie lately? Because I’m willing to bet the answers—there are... Read More

Alison Bechdel’s Non-Memoir, Memoir

David Plotz, Slate

The author’s new comic novel is all about not selling out in the face of success, and figuring out how to be a good progressive along... Read More

Exams Are Good for Children

Lola Salem, The Critic

Last week, ministers took to social media for Thank a Teacher Day, praising the profession for inspiring the next generation. Meanwhile, the... Read More

Is the NBA Draft Rigged?

B. Duncan Moench, UnHerd

Tonight is a big night for basketball. It’s the NBA draft: the moment the world’s top 30 basketball teams line up to select the... Read More

What You Need to Know Before Watching ‘Ironheart’

Daniel Chin, The Ringer

On Tuesday, the Disney+ series Ironheart will kick off what may prove to be an important summer for superhero movies—and for Marvel... Read More

During Pride Libraries Become Centers for Queer Resistance

John Murawski, RCI

This article contains graphic descriptions that may not be suitable for all readers. Parental discretion is advised. RALEIGH, N.C. –... Read More

Is Ownership Over?

G.B. Rango, Pirate Wires

It’s 2009. The bedside lamp’s warm, incandescent glow spreads a soft light over the master bedroom. Your wife breathes quietly... Read More

Movies

Can You Make a Great Shark Attack Movie in 2025?

The Ringer

It’s been 50 years since Jaws simultaneously invented and perfected the concept of the modern summer blockbuster. No less than King Kong or the monolith in 2001, the marauding (and famously malfunctioning) great white known colloquially as Bruce casts a long silhouette on both movie history and popular culture at large. The success of Steven Spielberg’s classic has ensured that, to paraphrase ... Read More

more from Movies

Music

Can Spotify Be Stopped?

The Nation

There’s a playlist on Spotify, curated by the platform’s in-house editors, called “Lorem”—a title that doubles as a cruel joke, though it’s hard to tell on who. Lorem ipsum is a placeholder phrase, a bit of mangled-Latin gibberish that is supposed to get filled in with actual content later. The playlist’s description leans into this empty promissory quality—“Newsletter coming soo... Read More

more from Music

Authors

The Silencing of Sylvia Plath

The Nation

In the afterword to Loving Sylvia Plath, a book detailing the abuse that Plath suffered at the hands of her husband, the poet Ted Hughes, the literary scholar Emily Van Duyne recounts that when she started the book, a friend told her that she had to get “everything right” because “everyone is going to come for it.” Van Duyne took this to mean that the book had to be “textual,” not mere... Read More

Authors

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