So much to read.
Some really good statistics here (and the graph, visible in part below, is pretty interesting): "On balance, mainline Protestants are political moderates. Because of their diverse political composition they may be ideal places to practice political deliberation in American society as Djupe and colleagues have written about (e.g., here). However, they are also declining at a rapid rate, having dropped from 30% of the population in the 1970’s to just 10% today. It seems telling that the one Christian tradition that is politically heterogeneous is also the one that is also rapidly declining."
This is really interesting, about Macron's impact on France being inversely proportionate to his popularity. I wonder if it is true?
Nice piece about escapism and middle age. No! Wait! Sorry! About the middle ages: "As someone long obsessed with this time period, the dual idea of escape and recognition makes a lot of sense. In some ways, escape is easy, because so much in the time period is distorted, inverted, murky; through a glass it is seen very darkly indeed. It is no coincidence that the fairy tales I grew up with (and that heavily influence my work now) all begin “Once upon a time,” though many are vaguely set somewhere in this period of history. We can know a lot about certain documented events and people and places, and still feel we know almost nothing."
Interesting piece about Madain Saleh, a Nabatean (and thus pre-Islamic) site in Saudi Arabia to which the Kingdom is finally paying attention. When I lived there, many years ago, I believe people would simply drive to the site, poke around, go home, with no oversight.
Here's a piece about the creation of the alphabet. Looks like some copying from hieroglyphics was involved. I love the association of the letter "H" with the hieroglypic figure of "hey!" which is a guy raising his arms, in alarm or outrage. From the alleys of Thebes five thousand years ago to the streets of New York City today, sometimes the continuities are palpable.
The Northernmost "runic" signs in the world have been discovered (or were discovered in 2018, and people outside Siberia only noticed recently): "the Namsky district in Yakutia…Namsky district is close to Yakutsk, the coldest city on earth, and near the basin of the Yana River, which is the coldest place on the planet outside of Antarctica. These seem to be Turkic "runes," though the word "rune" is probably inappropriate
When did it become possible to have an identity as a "cosmopolitan" European? In the mid-nineteenth century, with the advent of the railroad. However, the story seems to end with the rise of nationalism, and especially German nationalism, after the Franco-Prussian war. At least, that's what a new book by Orlando Figes argues. Here's a review of it. Sound pretty interesting, though I wonder how much it attends to the realities of European imperialism, and extractative colonialism, as generating the wealth that made Europe itself so rich, and so cosmopolitan. Far too few Europeans, in their different nationalities, have yet grappled with that. It's part of what lies behind the racism and ethno-nationalism vexing Europe today.
"What’s strikingly absent, except by unpleasant implication, is Rockwell’s most durable theme: community. The mob heckling Ruby Bridges is nowhere to be seen, and only gradually does it sink in that it’s because we’re looking at Bridges and her escorts from the mob’s point of view. We can only dissociate ourselves from them by refusing complicity."