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Reading List November 18, 2018

Our Favorite Interviews

Susan Sontag. Margaret Atwood. Errol Morris. David Runciman. China Miéville.

Earlier this week, Boston Review co-Editor-in-Chief Deb Chasman sat down with Yochai Benklerwho runs Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society.

Benkler’s new book (coauthored with Robert Faris and Hal Roberts) pushes back against the narrative that digital platforms or Russian hackers are to blame for our extreme political polarization, arguing instead—with plenty of new data to support them—that the polarization is a twenty-year old trend dating back to traditional outlets such as talk radio and Fox News. Most urgently, Benkler argues that mainstream journalistic practices have fed this polarization, especially when it comes to the rise of the extreme right.

Below, we have paired this interview with some of our favorites from the archive, including Susan SontagMargaret AtwoodErrol Morris, and our discussion with Max Ritvo—which took place just before his untimely death.

Susan Sontag, Geoffrey Movius

Geoffrey Movius speaks with Susan Sontag about photography, writing, and memory.

China Miéville
An interview with China Miéville.
Yochai Benkler, Deborah Chasman
Yochai Benkler argues that the mainstream media is our best hope for tempering the radical right. 
Margaret Atwood, Junot Díaz
Junot Díaz interviews Margaret Atwood about The Handmaid's Tale, political dystopias, and Drake.
Merve Emre, Deborah Chasman
The Myers-Briggs Bias: An Interview with Merve Emre
Elizabeth Metzger, Max Ritvo
Poet Max Ritvo, who was 25 when he died in August, talks about music and revision in an interview conducted shortly before his death.
David Runciman, Joshua Cohen
Joshua Cohen talks to David Runciman about his new book, political action, and finding hope in the end of democracy.
Errol Morris, Deborah Chasman
Morris on his new film and what he thinks of the man who likened himself to Darth Vader and Satan.
Albert W. Dzur
This conversation is the tenth in the series, Trench Democracy: Participatory Innovation in Unlikely Places.

Our weekly themed Reading Lists compile the best of Boston Review’s archive. Previews are delivered to members every Sunday. Become a member to receive them ahead of the crowd.

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