Prickly Dispatches
An editorial supplement featuring commentary on our pamphlets, announcements and news from the press, and more from our editors, authors, and collaborators.
The Monster in the Machine
Paul Kockelman’s Last Words goes beyond the human-machine relation to reveal something monstrous.
Kayfabe, Trolling, Satire, and Cynicism
Jennifer Pitts analyzes the use of irony in The Know-Nothing Campaign Against Higher Learning.
Christopher Rufo and the Right’s Hypocritical War on CRT
Nicholas Dirks responds to James Chandler’s new book, The Know-Nothing Campaign Against Higher Learning.
Should We Excuse the Practices of Universities?
Richard Bourke comments on The Know-Nothing Campaign Against Higher Learning.
What Is Higher Learning?
Jerome McGann reconsiders the point of higher education in light of James Chandler’s new pamphlet.
Trump, Zelensky, and Thucydides
Colin Murphy applies James Chandler’s analysis of kayfabe in the Trump administration to the theatricality of modern geopolitics.
Spectacle and Distraction
Don Michael Randel explains how the Know-Nothing campaign against universities contradicts the administration's stated policy goals.
Trump and Anti-Catholicism in America
Norman Vincent Peale, the author of The Power of Positive Thinking who officiated Trump’s first wedding, is a link in a long chain of American prejudice against Catholics.
Selective Memory and the Trump Administration
The author of The Know-Nothing Campaign Against Higher Learning on new lawsuits against Harvard.