Marc E. Vargo Books
@marc-vargo-books.bsky.social
Writer, nonfiction. New Orleans (Northshore).
Website: www.MarcVargo.com
Website: www.MarcVargo.com
Pinned
Reposted by Marc E. Vargo Books
Another state-sponsored murder.
Another execution of an American citizen.
Carried out by paramilitary goons tasked with terrorizing the people.
Sent by a regime that is at war with a vast section of its own population.
Another execution of an American citizen.
Carried out by paramilitary goons tasked with terrorizing the people.
Sent by a regime that is at war with a vast section of its own population.
Holy crap.
This is the most damning video yet.
It shows Border Patrol agents clearly taking Alex's firearm, running it away, and THEN executed him in cold blood by emptying a clip into his face.
Murder.
This is the most damning video yet.
It shows Border Patrol agents clearly taking Alex's firearm, running it away, and THEN executed him in cold blood by emptying a clip into his face.
Murder.
January 24, 2026 at 10:18 PM
Another state-sponsored murder.
Another execution of an American citizen.
Carried out by paramilitary goons tasked with terrorizing the people.
Sent by a regime that is at war with a vast section of its own population.
Another execution of an American citizen.
Carried out by paramilitary goons tasked with terrorizing the people.
Sent by a regime that is at war with a vast section of its own population.
Reposted by Marc E. Vargo Books
We believe that a revolutionary pedagogy is vital to building a liberatory future.
Join the Verso Book Club to take part in our monthly online reading groups, a place to dig into the critical work of discussing, arguing, reflecting, and expanding upon the text.
Join the Verso Book Club to take part in our monthly online reading groups, a place to dig into the critical work of discussing, arguing, reflecting, and expanding upon the text.
Gaza: The Story of a Genocide | The Verso Book Club Reading Group
Eman Basher and Ahmed Masoud will join the Verso Book Club Reading Group to discuss Palestinian poetry, education, and resistance.
www.versobooks.com
January 23, 2026 at 6:31 PM
We believe that a revolutionary pedagogy is vital to building a liberatory future.
Join the Verso Book Club to take part in our monthly online reading groups, a place to dig into the critical work of discussing, arguing, reflecting, and expanding upon the text.
Join the Verso Book Club to take part in our monthly online reading groups, a place to dig into the critical work of discussing, arguing, reflecting, and expanding upon the text.
Don't go back and change past literary works to conform to current ideologies.
Author Val McDermid: “We need to have those earlier historic texts to understand how far we’ve come and how different it is now.”
She's 100% correct.
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...
Author Val McDermid: “We need to have those earlier historic texts to understand how far we’ve come and how different it is now.”
She's 100% correct.
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...
Val McDermid was assigned ‘sensitivity reader’ to cut offensive language from old books
Author discusses changes made to Lindsay Gordon novels from 80s and 90s to prepare for their rerelease
www.theguardian.com
January 23, 2026 at 6:26 PM
Don't go back and change past literary works to conform to current ideologies.
Author Val McDermid: “We need to have those earlier historic texts to understand how far we’ve come and how different it is now.”
She's 100% correct.
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...
Author Val McDermid: “We need to have those earlier historic texts to understand how far we’ve come and how different it is now.”
She's 100% correct.
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...
Reposted by Marc E. Vargo Books
Congratulations to BR contributor @quinnslobodian.com for making the NBCC shortlist for criticism.
Read an excerpt from HAYEK’S BASTARDS here:
Read an excerpt from HAYEK’S BASTARDS here:
January 20, 2026 at 4:58 PM
Congratulations to BR contributor @quinnslobodian.com for making the NBCC shortlist for criticism.
Read an excerpt from HAYEK’S BASTARDS here:
Read an excerpt from HAYEK’S BASTARDS here:
Reposted by Marc E. Vargo Books
The trauma response known as fawning wears various faces: perfectionism, promiscuity, self-deprecation, workaholism. Two new books advise on how to “unfawn”—but what do we lose in the process? newyorkermag.visitlink.me/3RKHQg
January 20, 2026 at 4:30 AM
The trauma response known as fawning wears various faces: perfectionism, promiscuity, self-deprecation, workaholism. Two new books advise on how to “unfawn”—but what do we lose in the process? newyorkermag.visitlink.me/3RKHQg
Reposted by Marc E. Vargo Books
OPINION | Even by Trump’s standards, his latest letter is so dangerous and so delusional that there is no longer any question that the president is mentally “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” as laid out in the 25th Amendment.
Trump’s Insane New Threat Leaves No Doubt: It’s Time for the 25th Amendment
There is no longer any denying the president is unable to carry out the demands of his office.
trib.al
January 19, 2026 at 12:19 PM
OPINION | Even by Trump’s standards, his latest letter is so dangerous and so delusional that there is no longer any question that the president is mentally “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” as laid out in the 25th Amendment.
Reposted by Marc E. Vargo Books
Truly truly truly cannot recommend this, and the entire Dryco series enough. Random Acts, in particular, is one of the most profoundly unnerving things I’ve ever ready (complementary)
See also, @jwomack.bsky.social's *Random Acts (1995), which really bit into the copper wire of the immanent American future: lareviewofbooks.org/article/ther...
“There’s Too Much Reality”: On Jack Womack’s “Random Acts of Senseless Violence” | Los Angeles Review of Books
With everyone thinking about "The Handmaid's Tale" after the election, Ron Hogan believes "Random Acts of Senseless Violence" is also appropriate reading.
lareviewofbooks.org
January 18, 2026 at 9:34 PM
Truly truly truly cannot recommend this, and the entire Dryco series enough. Random Acts, in particular, is one of the most profoundly unnerving things I’ve ever ready (complementary)
Reposted by Marc E. Vargo Books
Reposted by Marc E. Vargo Books
‘It is very hard to pray if your relationship to words themselves is as fastidious, suspicious, self-conscious and filled with doubt as Eliot’s was. The language of prayer does not entertain constant word-by-word revision.’
Colm Tóibín on Yeats, Eliot and Auden.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Colm Tóibín on Yeats, Eliot and Auden.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Colm Tóibín · Yeats, Auden, Eliot: 1939, 1940, 1941
Who was English; who was American? If Auden was English, was T.S. Eliot American? Or was it the other way around?...
www.lrb.co.uk
January 18, 2026 at 5:10 PM
‘It is very hard to pray if your relationship to words themselves is as fastidious, suspicious, self-conscious and filled with doubt as Eliot’s was. The language of prayer does not entertain constant word-by-word revision.’
Colm Tóibín on Yeats, Eliot and Auden.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Colm Tóibín on Yeats, Eliot and Auden.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Marc E. Vargo Books
If you haven't seen it yet, please, please do. It'll hit streaming early next month, and screenings will keep happening for at least several more months.
Almost a year since @thelibrariansfilm.bsky.social premiered at Sundance. I still haven’t fully wrapped my head around being part of a documentary that’s meant so much to our profession and has taken me around the world. What a whirlwind year. Grateful and blessed.
January 18, 2026 at 4:51 PM
If you haven't seen it yet, please, please do. It'll hit streaming early next month, and screenings will keep happening for at least several more months.
Reposted by Marc E. Vargo Books
Tariq Ali acclaimed series of five novels form an epic panorama that begins in 15th century Moorish Spain, and closes in the 21st century cities of Lahore, London, Paris and Beijing.
Tariq Ali: A Leading Figure of the International Left
Tariq Ali has been a leading figure of the international left since the 60s. From the student movement in Pakistan to the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, from Trotsky to Malcolm X, from Lenin to Lennon,…
www.versobooks.com
January 18, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Tariq Ali acclaimed series of five novels form an epic panorama that begins in 15th century Moorish Spain, and closes in the 21st century cities of Lahore, London, Paris and Beijing.
Reposted by Marc E. Vargo Books
New video analysis by @nytimes.com team breaks down the killing of Renee Good frame by frame from multiple angles and challenges official accounts of what happened. www.nytimes.com/video/us/100...
Video: Video Analysis of ICE Shooting Sheds Light on Contested Moments
Newly available videos and existing footage synchronized and assessed by The Times provides a frame-by-frame look at how an ICE officer ended up shooting and killing a motorist in Minneapolis.
www.nytimes.com
January 16, 2026 at 5:56 PM
New video analysis by @nytimes.com team breaks down the killing of Renee Good frame by frame from multiple angles and challenges official accounts of what happened. www.nytimes.com/video/us/100...
Reposted by Marc E. Vargo Books
This book had slipped my mind. If you haven’t read it, this would indeed be the time to. If you have, likewise!
My choice for the 30-day books-by-women challenge:
#BookSky #BookChallenge #ReadingWomen #30DaysBooksByWomen #Books
It is not fiction, but worth a read with everything that is happening right now.
#BookSky #BookChallenge #ReadingWomen #30DaysBooksByWomen #Books
It is not fiction, but worth a read with everything that is happening right now.
January 17, 2026 at 3:42 AM
This book had slipped my mind. If you haven’t read it, this would indeed be the time to. If you have, likewise!
Reposted by Marc E. Vargo Books
Caring about when to use "who" versus when to use "whom," in this climate? It matters, Mary Norris, a former copy editor at The New Yorker, writes. Learn the correct way to use "who" and “whom": newyorkermag.visitlink.me/vq5WzW
January 16, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Caring about when to use "who" versus when to use "whom," in this climate? It matters, Mary Norris, a former copy editor at The New Yorker, writes. Learn the correct way to use "who" and “whom": newyorkermag.visitlink.me/vq5WzW
Reposted by Marc E. Vargo Books
More than 50% of US college students are enrolled in a state with at least one law or policy censoring higher education. Since PEN America began tracking this legislation in 2021, educational censorship has spread nationwide. Read our America’s Censored Campuses report at: pen.org/report/ameri...
January 16, 2026 at 6:02 PM
More than 50% of US college students are enrolled in a state with at least one law or policy censoring higher education. Since PEN America began tracking this legislation in 2021, educational censorship has spread nationwide. Read our America’s Censored Campuses report at: pen.org/report/ameri...
Reposted by Marc E. Vargo Books
I had a great (and long!) conversation with @janskudlarek.bsky.social:
About where America stands one year into Trumpist rule, the violent assault on Minneapolis - and why we must remember that the gulf between Trump’s authoritarian desires and the reality of American life remains vast.
About where America stands one year into Trumpist rule, the violent assault on Minneapolis - and why we must remember that the gulf between Trump’s authoritarian desires and the reality of American life remains vast.
(27) Ein Jahr Trump: Ein Jahr Gewalt, Lügen & Widerstand - mit Thomas Zimmer
Podcast Episode · Nicht noch ein Politik-Podcast · 01/16/2026 · 1h 45m
podcasts.apple.com
January 16, 2026 at 3:58 PM
I had a great (and long!) conversation with @janskudlarek.bsky.social:
About where America stands one year into Trumpist rule, the violent assault on Minneapolis - and why we must remember that the gulf between Trump’s authoritarian desires and the reality of American life remains vast.
About where America stands one year into Trumpist rule, the violent assault on Minneapolis - and why we must remember that the gulf between Trump’s authoritarian desires and the reality of American life remains vast.
Reposted by Marc E. Vargo Books
The letter from Bill and Hillary Clinton to James Comer explaining their refusal to testify in his Epstein investigation is really remarkable, not like any letter of this genre I've seen. It's signed by them, not a lawyer, and the arguments are not legal ones. Reprinted from their X account:
January 13, 2026 at 6:20 PM
The letter from Bill and Hillary Clinton to James Comer explaining their refusal to testify in his Epstein investigation is really remarkable, not like any letter of this genre I've seen. It's signed by them, not a lawyer, and the arguments are not legal ones. Reprinted from their X account:
Reposted by Marc E. Vargo Books
The best performers in the world were often unremarkable as children. A large review finds that early success predicts little about adult excellence, while broad experience, delayed specialization, and steady improvement matter far more.
READ MORE: www.profolus.com/topics/prodi...
READ MORE: www.profolus.com/topics/prodi...
January 13, 2026 at 3:21 AM
The best performers in the world were often unremarkable as children. A large review finds that early success predicts little about adult excellence, while broad experience, delayed specialization, and steady improvement matter far more.
READ MORE: www.profolus.com/topics/prodi...
READ MORE: www.profolus.com/topics/prodi...
Reposted by Marc E. Vargo Books
I also must say that it's a bit rich that Trump and his DOJ think it's a good idea to gin up a bullshit investigation about supposed illegalities in ... {checks notes} … renovating a federal building
January 12, 2026 at 3:19 AM
I also must say that it's a bit rich that Trump and his DOJ think it's a good idea to gin up a bullshit investigation about supposed illegalities in ... {checks notes} … renovating a federal building
Reposted by Marc E. Vargo Books
Peter Wehner is channeling Pontifex maximus “The United States under Trump is dark, aggressive, and lawless. It has become…a predator nation. This period of our history will eventually be judged, and the verdict will be unforgiving” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Trump’s Folly
The United States has turned dark, aggressive, and lawless.
www.theatlantic.com
January 10, 2026 at 8:21 PM
Peter Wehner is channeling Pontifex maximus “The United States under Trump is dark, aggressive, and lawless. It has become…a predator nation. This period of our history will eventually be judged, and the verdict will be unforgiving” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Reposted by Marc E. Vargo Books
Watch the full interview with @petebuttigieg.bsky.social and subscribe to support independent media: youtu.be/35Yao2lLCh0
MUST-SEE: Pete Buttigieg issues RESPONSE to ICE shooting
YouTube video by Brian Tyler Cohen
youtu.be
January 9, 2026 at 3:15 AM
Watch the full interview with @petebuttigieg.bsky.social and subscribe to support independent media: youtu.be/35Yao2lLCh0
Reposted by Marc E. Vargo Books
@petebuttigieg.bsky.social: "What ICE has become has nothing to do with keeping us safe and in many cases, including this American mother of 3 who lost her life yesterday, it's doing the opposite."
January 9, 2026 at 3:15 AM
@petebuttigieg.bsky.social: "What ICE has become has nothing to do with keeping us safe and in many cases, including this American mother of 3 who lost her life yesterday, it's doing the opposite."
Finally -- finally -- the media is beginning to realize that Stephen Miller is the leading force behind this shit.
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
The Ugly Beast of American Authoritarianism
Might is right is the philosophy behind the Trump administration’s decision to kidnap Nicolás Maduro.
www.thenation.com
January 8, 2026 at 7:31 PM
Finally -- finally -- the media is beginning to realize that Stephen Miller is the leading force behind this shit.
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
www.thenation.com/article/poli...