The Baffler
@thebaffler.com
Political and cultural criticism. Since 1988. Online and in print. https://thebaffler.com/
Pinned
The Baffler
@thebaffler.com
· Jan 6
Who will protect the Earth from the pillage and spillage of mankind? Our new issue, “Bloom and Gloom,” surveys the mess we’ve made of our planet, and describes the terrain on which we stage the battle for its ecological future.
thebaffler.com/issues/no-82
thebaffler.com/issues/no-82
From the Archives: Sarah Marshall describes the cruel fantasy that Disney sells to children—and just about everyone else.
The Magic Kingdom | Sarah Marshall
Capitalism, like all abusive relationships, creates a sense of learned helplessness in its victims. We are complicit in what it makes of us.
thebaffler.com
February 10, 2026 at 1:44 AM
From the Archives: Sarah Marshall describes the cruel fantasy that Disney sells to children—and just about everyone else.
“The project’s bedrock was the irresistible, oh-so-sixties notion that conversation was the stuff of social transformation.”
A Place to Call Home | Jackson Davidow
The early photos of Barbara P. Norfleet and Susan Meiselas are more just than documents of neighborly attachment and empowerment.
thebaffler.com
February 10, 2026 at 12:03 AM
“The project’s bedrock was the irresistible, oh-so-sixties notion that conversation was the stuff of social transformation.”
“It took more than two years for thousands of diplomats to arduously negotiate the UN Conference’s agenda. It took mere days for much of it to be cast aside.”
Earth, Bound | Scott W. Stern
The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972 marked the birth of international environmental law. It was moribund from the start.
thebaffler.com
February 9, 2026 at 10:25 PM
“It took more than two years for thousands of diplomats to arduously negotiate the UN Conference’s agenda. It took mere days for much of it to be cast aside.”
Reposted by The Baffler
"In Chaudhuri's novels, every paragraph reads like the first; he writes fiction that gives these self-contained fragments 'primacy over the superstructure of narrative.' They exist for their own sake; they can be read and revisited independently."
On Amit Chaudhuri at @thebaffler.com
On Amit Chaudhuri at @thebaffler.com
Everything Is at Stake | Apoorva Tadepalli
In everything he publishes, Amit Chaudhuri pursues a “poetics of unfinishedness.”
thebaffler.com
February 9, 2026 at 8:42 PM
"In Chaudhuri's novels, every paragraph reads like the first; he writes fiction that gives these self-contained fragments 'primacy over the superstructure of narrative.' They exist for their own sake; they can be read and revisited independently."
On Amit Chaudhuri at @thebaffler.com
On Amit Chaudhuri at @thebaffler.com
Justice40, Biden’s government-wide environmental justice policy, failed to serve the marginalized communities it was meant to protect. So, too, did the IRA. And some of the blame for that rests on the shoulders of environmentalists.
thebaffler.com/salvos/green...
thebaffler.com/salvos/green...
Green Raw Deals | Dave Denison, Rhiana Gunn-Wright & Maria Lopez-Nuñez
The Biden years ended with the U.S. environmental movement in a fractured and demoralized state. Where do we go from here?
thebaffler.com
February 9, 2026 at 8:37 PM
Justice40, Biden’s government-wide environmental justice policy, failed to serve the marginalized communities it was meant to protect. So, too, did the IRA. And some of the blame for that rests on the shoulders of environmentalists.
thebaffler.com/salvos/green...
thebaffler.com/salvos/green...
Tana Wojczuk reviews “Hamnet,” a female-centered story of death, birth, and creative rebirth and considers the purpose of setting such a narrative in a Shakespearean world.
Shakespeare in the Bardo | Tana Wojczuk
Shakespeare is no longer just a playwright, he is an industry.
thebaffler.com
February 9, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Tana Wojczuk reviews “Hamnet,” a female-centered story of death, birth, and creative rebirth and considers the purpose of setting such a narrative in a Shakespearean world.
Disney has found itself a new CEO: Josh D’Amaro, the former chair of the company’s hugely successful parks division. Back in 2019, Sarah Marshall paid a visit to the “Happiest Place on Earth.”
The Magic Kingdom | Sarah Marshall
Capitalism, like all abusive relationships, creates a sense of learned helplessness in its victims. We are complicit in what it makes of us.
thebaffler.com
February 9, 2026 at 4:52 PM
Disney has found itself a new CEO: Josh D’Amaro, the former chair of the company’s hugely successful parks division. Back in 2019, Sarah Marshall paid a visit to the “Happiest Place on Earth.”
Reposted by The Baffler
A treat to begin the week — thanks @thebaffler.com!
February 9, 2026 at 1:41 PM
A treat to begin the week — thanks @thebaffler.com!
In the 1960s, artists took a fresh approach to documentary photography, often arising from political need. Jackson Davidow
writes on two early projects by Barbara P. Norfleet and Susan Meisalas in Cambridge, MA.
writes on two early projects by Barbara P. Norfleet and Susan Meisalas in Cambridge, MA.
A Place to Call Home | Jackson Davidow
The early photos of Barbara P. Norfleet and Susan Meiselas are more just than documents of neighborly attachment and empowerment.
thebaffler.com
February 9, 2026 at 3:08 PM
In the 1960s, artists took a fresh approach to documentary photography, often arising from political need. Jackson Davidow
writes on two early projects by Barbara P. Norfleet and Susan Meisalas in Cambridge, MA.
writes on two early projects by Barbara P. Norfleet and Susan Meisalas in Cambridge, MA.
The fiction of Amit Chaudhuri refuses to distinguish between the significant and the insignificant, the “real” story and the still life humming in the background.
Everything Is at Stake | Apoorva Tadepalli
In everything he publishes, Amit Chaudhuri pursues a “poetics of unfinishedness.”
thebaffler.com
February 8, 2026 at 8:03 PM
The fiction of Amit Chaudhuri refuses to distinguish between the significant and the insignificant, the “real” story and the still life humming in the background.
It’s Super Bowl Sunday! Back in 2017, David Roth wrote on how the NFL prioritizes the profits of the men who own the league’s teams above all else.
Downward Spiral | David Roth
Football is a uniquely American game—in ways that both flatter and put the lie to a number of treasured national myths.
thebaffler.com
February 8, 2026 at 3:41 PM
It’s Super Bowl Sunday! Back in 2017, David Roth wrote on how the NFL prioritizes the profits of the men who own the league’s teams above all else.
We’re still living in the world the war on terror built, one marked by ruin, poverty, and death. Its architects have faced no consequences. But we can learn from the bold actions of those who resisted it in the moment.
A Human Experience | Christopher Bell
Muntadhar al-Zaidi discusses his famous protest, its consequences, and the world the war on terror created.
thebaffler.com
February 7, 2026 at 8:03 PM
We’re still living in the world the war on terror built, one marked by ruin, poverty, and death. Its architects have faced no consequences. But we can learn from the bold actions of those who resisted it in the moment.
“This is what is so remarkable about Chaudhuri’s stories: they center the human, the random, the mundane, the spontaneous.”
Everything Is at Stake | Apoorva Tadepalli
In everything he publishes, Amit Chaudhuri pursues a “poetics of unfinishedness.”
thebaffler.com
February 7, 2026 at 3:41 PM
“This is what is so remarkable about Chaudhuri’s stories: they center the human, the random, the mundane, the spontaneous.”
From Jackson Davidow, on two photography projects that document life and the home in Cambridge, Massachusetts:
A Place to Call Home | Jackson Davidow
The early photos of Barbara P. Norfleet and Susan Meiselas are more just than documents of neighborly attachment and empowerment.
thebaffler.com
February 7, 2026 at 12:03 AM
From Jackson Davidow, on two photography projects that document life and the home in Cambridge, Massachusetts:
From the Archives: David Roth writes on the NFL’s very American kind of decline.
Downward Spiral | David Roth
Football is a uniquely American game—in ways that both flatter and put the lie to a number of treasured national myths.
thebaffler.com
February 6, 2026 at 11:01 PM
From the Archives: David Roth writes on the NFL’s very American kind of decline.
“Amid the excessive trimming, weeding, and pruning, there’s almost always a forgotten edge of the parking lot where wild plants persist, sprouting in pavement cracks by abandoned shopping carts and windblown litter.”
Parking Lot Paradiso | Andrew Conboy with Bobby Doherty
A field guide to what grows in the asphalt by the mini-mall.
thebaffler.com
February 6, 2026 at 9:55 PM
“Amid the excessive trimming, weeding, and pruning, there’s almost always a forgotten edge of the parking lot where wild plants persist, sprouting in pavement cracks by abandoned shopping carts and windblown litter.”
In a linear narrative made up of logical, relevant coordinates, every detail services the larger story. But as Apoorva Tadepalli explains, Amit Chaudhuri reverses this dynamic: a plot must arrange itself around the fragmentary details of life.
Everything Is at Stake | Apoorva Tadepalli
In everything he publishes, Amit Chaudhuri pursues a “poetics of unfinishedness.”
thebaffler.com
February 6, 2026 at 8:45 PM
In a linear narrative made up of logical, relevant coordinates, every detail services the larger story. But as Apoorva Tadepalli explains, Amit Chaudhuri reverses this dynamic: a plot must arrange itself around the fragmentary details of life.
In short fiction from our new issue, a woman discovers a telepathic connection to produce and conducts a series of interviews with asparagus, corn, and a potato.
Interviews with Certain Vegetables | Anelise Chen
I never forced any vegetable to speak to me; I was receptive when they wanted to talk.
thebaffler.com
February 6, 2026 at 7:22 PM
In short fiction from our new issue, a woman discovers a telepathic connection to produce and conducts a series of interviews with asparagus, corn, and a potato.
For a writer as well-known and widely adapted as William Shakespeare, death is not the end. Chloé Zhao’s new film of Maggie O’Farrell’s “Hamnet” shows us the poet and playwright in his grief. But is this immortality or the living dead?
thebaffler.com/latest/shake...
thebaffler.com/latest/shake...
Shakespeare in the Bardo | Tana Wojczuk
Shakespeare is no longer just a playwright, he is an industry.
thebaffler.com
February 6, 2026 at 6:10 PM
For a writer as well-known and widely adapted as William Shakespeare, death is not the end. Chloé Zhao’s new film of Maggie O’Farrell’s “Hamnet” shows us the poet and playwright in his grief. But is this immortality or the living dead?
thebaffler.com/latest/shake...
thebaffler.com/latest/shake...
“His protest is a model of bold resistance, one that is at least as potent in a world of student activist abductions and deportations and undisguised perfidy from government officials.”
A Human Experience | Christopher Bell
Muntadhar al-Zaidi discusses his famous protest, its consequences, and the world the war on terror created.
thebaffler.com
February 6, 2026 at 3:41 PM
“His protest is a model of bold resistance, one that is at least as potent in a world of student activist abductions and deportations and undisguised perfidy from government officials.”
Barbara P. Norfleet’s “Six Speak” and Susan Meisalas’s “44 Irving” are more than just documentary photography projects—they’re vehicles for deepening connection with one’s home and community.
A Place to Call Home | Jackson Davidow
The early photos of Barbara P. Norfleet and Susan Meiselas are more just than documents of neighborly attachment and empowerment.
thebaffler.com
February 6, 2026 at 3:27 PM
Barbara P. Norfleet’s “Six Speak” and Susan Meisalas’s “44 Irving” are more than just documentary photography projects—they’re vehicles for deepening connection with one’s home and community.
International environmental law has floundered in the face of the global climate crisis. It cannot hold our worst actors, political or corporate, to account—and that’s because it’s been captured by Western commercial interests from the very start.
Earth, Bound | Scott W. Stern
The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972 marked the birth of international environmental law. It was moribund from the start.
thebaffler.com
February 6, 2026 at 1:44 AM
International environmental law has floundered in the face of the global climate crisis. It cannot hold our worst actors, political or corporate, to account—and that’s because it’s been captured by Western commercial interests from the very start.
“Shakespeare is no longer just a playwright; he is an industry. Beginning with the waning golden age of the theater in the late nineteenth century, Shakespeare became the property of academics, transformed from entertainment into high culture.”
Shakespeare in the Bardo | Tana Wojczuk
Shakespeare is no longer just a playwright, he is an industry.
thebaffler.com
February 6, 2026 at 12:06 AM
“Shakespeare is no longer just a playwright; he is an industry. Beginning with the waning golden age of the theater in the late nineteenth century, Shakespeare became the property of academics, transformed from entertainment into high culture.”
Muntadhar al-Zaidi was a young man when the U.S. invaded Iraq. In 2008, he protested the occupation—by lobbing his shoes at President Bush. He tells @christopherbell.bsky.social about the imprisonment and torture that followed.
A Human Experience | Christopher Bell
Muntadhar al-Zaidi discusses his famous protest, its consequences, and the world the war on terror created.
thebaffler.com
February 5, 2026 at 8:45 PM
Muntadhar al-Zaidi was a young man when the U.S. invaded Iraq. In 2008, he protested the occupation—by lobbing his shoes at President Bush. He tells @christopherbell.bsky.social about the imprisonment and torture that followed.
The 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment invited thousands of delegates from most of the world’s countries to address the sorry state of the planet. The interests of oil and industry were well represented—those of the workers, less so.
Earth, Bound | Scott W. Stern
The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972 marked the birth of international environmental law. It was moribund from the start.
thebaffler.com
February 5, 2026 at 6:04 PM
The 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment invited thousands of delegates from most of the world’s countries to address the sorry state of the planet. The interests of oil and industry were well represented—those of the workers, less so.