Patrick Iber
@patrickiber.bsky.social
Widely somewhat respected. Co-editor, Dissent Magazine. Teach history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. New book coming at end of 2026: Poverty of the Imagination: The Cold War and the Social Science of Development in Latin America.
That’s the right answer!
Ron Skolnik@ronskolnik.bsky.social · 22h agoEl-Sayed: "I believe in equal rights to peace, dignity, and self-determination, for Palestinians and Jewish Israelis alike... If that’s 2 states, I’m for it. If it’s 1 state, I’m for that. If it’s this 'land for all' model, ... or whatever they decide." www.newyorker.com/news/the-new...
I have one Odyssey take (tm) that I haven't seen anywhere else and that has to do with the place of The Odyssey in the canon wars, and it is part of why I think Nolan's Odyssey is quite good and you can enjoy it if it's the sort of thing you enjoy
In my review of Dave Zirin's new biography of Howard Zinn, I finally settle the question of whether Zinn was good or bad in a way that will be convincing to everyone, because we all know how to be normal about this guy newrepublic.com/article/2137...
Did Howard Zinn Tell Too Simple a Story About American History?
As a new biography makes clear, “A People’s History of the United States” arose from a life of deep and admirable commitment, but it has many gaps.
newrepublic.com
Rick Reilly explained that Trump cheats at golf in 2015 and that should have been the end of it but it turns out a lot of people yearn to be ruled by North Korean State TV
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3d agoTrump: “The Winning Shot in the Bedminster Club Championship! Thank you very much to all of those who participated. I won with a 70, & am so honored in that, unlike the rest of the field, I’m given very little time to practice, bc I’m focused on many other things. It’s called TALENT, and I have it”
I have one Odyssey take (tm) that I haven't seen anywhere else and that has to do with the place of The Odyssey in the canon wars, and it is part of why I think Nolan's Odyssey is quite good and you can enjoy it if it's the sort of thing you enjoy
When Evers didn’t endorse his former Lt. Gov. you had to figure there was a shoe to drop
Politico@politico.com · 6d agoUPDATE: Mandela Barnes dropped out of the Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor, as progressive state lawmaker Francesca Hong surges in the polls. The announcement comes as state Dems brace for damaging media reports about Barnes.
Trying to write a historiographical essay and I want to describe two camps of Cultural Cold War studies as "The Mighty Wurlitzer (complimentary)" and "The Mighty Wurlitzer (derogatory)" but I don't think scholarship is ready for this yet
It's my headcanon that this 2017 Scandi crime flop featuring Detective Harry Hole was a loose interpretation of Wallace Stevens en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sno...
The Snowman (2017 film) - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Daniel Tunnard@danieltunnard.bsky.social · last wk.Are there any other poems that have been made into films? Could Nolan have a crack at "This is just to say"?
Dissent's most-read article in 2025 was this one by Zoe Hu about Andrew Tate; this paragraph is still as sharp as it gets dissentmagazine.org/article/mr-l...
Really looking forward to reading this!
Rachel Grace Newman@rachelgracenewman.bsky.social · last wk.BOOK GIVEAWAY! The Future in Their Hands: Making Mexico's Foreign-Educated Elite This book is available for free download as an Ebook, but I've got a couple extra hard copies that I can mail within the US. DM me if you want one! Book published by @ucpress.bsky.social, written by me!
This is my micro-review of Nolan’s Odyssey. Looper : The Last Jedi :: The Odyssey :: The Dark Knight Rises. Appropriately for Nolan this requires some time shenanigans to make sense
The corner where Corey Ruiz was killed by police has been blocked off by the community and turned into a memorial. There’s a vigil at 5pm. Leaving people out of the photo to protect privacy
“The open book fountain designed like a book being turned page by page. This fountain is located in Egyetem Square in Budapest, Hungary, and is known as the Open Book Fountain.
fun fact: the grapefruit was completely unknown until very recently. when charles darwin found out about grapefruit spoons, he deduced the existence of a large citrus variety that would match the spoon's specialized beak. when the grapefruit was finally discovered, it was named after the spoon.
Tom Flood@tomflood.bsky.social · 2w agoWhy do people cut grapefruits like this and not like orange slices (the correct way)
once again thinking about the best Lord of the Rings meme
I agree with Swin's point here and would also add the word capitalism for some people denotes capitalist values (greed, inequality = good), whereas "market economics" doesn't carry that same association, as he says, socialist values and a market economy is the best institutional combo pack we know
Asawin Suebsaeng@swin24.bsky.social · 3w agoPeople on the other site were marveling at or making fun of this poll showing young Dems approving strongly of free markets but capitalism being underwater with them and I actually have a simple explanation for that which is they want to live in something closer to a western social democracy of…
This is an absolutely terrifying statistic and it is the kind of thing that can not only bring down an economy but trap more swathes of the population in generational poverty.
Dissent Magazine@dissentmag.bsky.social · 3w agoMore than a quarter of American adults have a daily gambling habit, 42 percent of bettors have said they spend more than they should, and a majority of men ages eighteen to forty-nine have an active account with an online sportsbook.
press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
Poverty of the Imagination
Explores the history of the “science of development” during the Cold War and how experts across the social sciences tried to create the tools to address the problem of poverty across Latin America.In ...
press.uchicago.edu
Patrick Iber@patrickiber.bsky.social · 3w ago✅ Finish book draft (1st time) ✅ Submit book for peer review ✅ Revise; finish book draft (2nd time) ✅ Finish technical aspects of submission (3rd time) ✅ Get page proofs, finish proofing (4th time) ✅ Finish index ❌ receive book in December ❌ discover what I still wish I could change
✅ Finish book draft (1st time) ✅ Submit book for peer review ✅ Revise; finish book draft (2nd time) ✅ Finish technical aspects of submission (3rd time) ✅ Get page proofs, finish proofing (4th time) ✅ Finish index ❌ receive book in December ❌ discover what I still wish I could change
I was recently far enough from light pollution that I was able to show my children the night sky for what was effectively the first time. One is nearly 15 years old. We stayed up and made up silly stories about constellations, as is our birthright as human beings
Scott “bell beaker” Cave@hellabarnes.bsky.social · 3w agoit probably is some kind of shifting baseline thing like no light pollution or the amount of fish in the water, which is a bummer bsky.app/profile/plum...
Never forget that time Sam Neill gave a quote about murder that was so beautifully kabonkers, we all assumed it was a Clickhole bit initially
My response here is useless because the dispute here isn't about facts, but just in case you're interested Matthew Restall's book "The Nine Lives of Christopher Columbus" has a whole chapter on how Columbus became Italian (he was Genoese, Italy was hundreds of years from existing when he was born)
Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · 4w agoIt is undeniably funny that Chris Rufo - whose whole career is based on the idea that identity politics is so bad that its fine to ruin people's lives over it - is unhappy that Mamdani is not adequately appreciative of his identity
This is a fascinating essay by José Natanson about the sociopolitical origins of Argentine rock and trap music and the shifts in underlying political economy that each reflects www.theideasletter.org/essay/soundt...
Soundtracks to Argentina’s Democracy
The evolution of Argentine popular music, according to Natanson, mirrors the country’s broader social transformation. Argentina’s distinctive rock scene emerged in the 1960s from a prosperous, middle-...
theideasletter.org
