The thing about academic time is, it's lumpy.  Our calendars are clotted with various events and periods where life is crazy.  For me the craziest are the times from just before Thanksgiving until the middle of December, and then the second half of April till early May.  But even then, if we can see the far side of the chaos, there is hope.  This morning I am feeling hope.  And so I give you some links:

First of all, a pretty great list of some good restaurants in & around Cville.  This really only scratches the surface, but it is still pretty good.  If you're not from here, come visit!

The interesting backstory to the Beatles song “Eleanor Rigby”

Helpful review of a recent bio of Edward Said.

John Ganz, one of my recent favorites on the web, on Sam Moyn.

“Moyn sometimes seems above all engaged in a great rolling of his eyes at the language of his peers, a gesture that he wants to give the appurtenances of moral outrage.” 

Good interview by Julia Ioffe with Serhiy Leshchenko, one of Zelensky’s close aids.

A good review of a collection of pieces by Paul Krugman.

“Few accounts of neoliberalism treat the fall of the Soviet Union between 1989 and 1991 or the collapse of communism as capitalism’s chief global antagonist as seminal events. But they were.”

Good interview with Gary Gerstle, whose new book on the history of neoliberalism is out.

Remember: TikTok is a political actor, owned by the PRC. Even if others intermediate between the central government and the corporation.

Good piece on Putin’s current situation. “The political scientist Adam Przeworski once wrote that authoritarian equilibrium rests on economic prosperity, lies or fear.”

This is a very interesting, and historically rich, analysis of what the Ukraine war, and the Nagorno Karabakh war of 2019, can tell us about the future of combat, and the future of the tank.

Last but not least: Jon Malesic in the NYT on less work.

Be well, all!