Public Books
@publicbooks.bsky.social
Public Books is an online magazine of ideas, arts, and scholarship. www.publicbooks.org
“Our inability to see advertising as aesthetic is a failure of the imagination, but an inescapable one, given the medium. An ad only ‘works’ when we can’t separate the product from the fantasy.”
Cool Enchantment - Public Books
The ad is seductive but transparent. We don’t believe the copy but appreciate its innocence.
www.publicbooks.org
November 30, 2025 at 7:18 PM
“Our inability to see advertising as aesthetic is a failure of the imagination, but an inescapable one, given the medium. An ad only ‘works’ when we can’t separate the product from the fantasy.”
“‘Retrospective’ echoes the classic Cold War interpretation of the Spanish Civil War as above all a fratricide of the left, relying upon a reading of Homage to Catalonia that, as the historian Paul Preston points out, even Orwell himself came to regret.”
No End to the Spanish Civil War? - Public Books
Latin America's own conflicts over land, Church, labor, and democratization, were played out, across the Atlantic, for all to see.
www.publicbooks.org
November 30, 2025 at 4:07 PM
“‘Retrospective’ echoes the classic Cold War interpretation of the Spanish Civil War as above all a fratricide of the left, relying upon a reading of Homage to Catalonia that, as the historian Paul Preston points out, even Orwell himself came to regret.”
Author Juan Gabriel Vásquez recorded 30 hours of conversations over seven years and exchanged innumerable emails and texts with Sergio Cabrera Cárdenas while researching his latest novel, "Retrospective." Read Kirsten Weld’s review, new at PB:
No End to the Spanish Civil War? - Public Books
Latin America's own conflicts over land, Church, labor, and democratization, were played out, across the Atlantic, for all to see.
www.publicbooks.org
November 29, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Author Juan Gabriel Vásquez recorded 30 hours of conversations over seven years and exchanged innumerable emails and texts with Sergio Cabrera Cárdenas while researching his latest novel, "Retrospective." Read Kirsten Weld’s review, new at PB:
“Like all advertising, the light box suffers from its limitations. Its associations are mismatched, if not incoherent.”
New at PB: The Hamm’s light box isn’t quite art. So why is it a coveted collectors item?
New at PB: The Hamm’s light box isn’t quite art. So why is it a coveted collectors item?
Cool Enchantment - Public Books
The ad is seductive but transparent. We don’t believe the copy but appreciate its innocence.
www.publicbooks.org
November 29, 2025 at 7:18 PM
“Like all advertising, the light box suffers from its limitations. Its associations are mismatched, if not incoherent.”
New at PB: The Hamm’s light box isn’t quite art. So why is it a coveted collectors item?
New at PB: The Hamm’s light box isn’t quite art. So why is it a coveted collectors item?
“'Retrospective' portrays the 20th century’s utopias and agonies through the life of a singular individual: Sergio Cabrera Cárdenas, born in Medellín in 1950 to a Spanish father and a Colombian mother.”
No End to the Spanish Civil War? - Public Books
Latin America's own conflicts over land, Church, labor, and democratization, were played out, across the Atlantic, for all to see.
www.publicbooks.org
November 28, 2025 at 11:55 PM
“'Retrospective' portrays the 20th century’s utopias and agonies through the life of a singular individual: Sergio Cabrera Cárdenas, born in Medellín in 1950 to a Spanish father and a Colombian mother.”
“We think of decoration as primarily a matter of form and color, but it succeeds only when it conjures a picture within us.”
New at PB: M. P. Kennedy on how we receive advertising, and what the passing of time does to our perception of it.
New at PB: M. P. Kennedy on how we receive advertising, and what the passing of time does to our perception of it.
Cool Enchantment - Public Books
The ad is seductive but transparent. We don’t believe the copy but appreciate its innocence.
www.publicbooks.org
November 28, 2025 at 9:07 PM
“We think of decoration as primarily a matter of form and color, but it succeeds only when it conjures a picture within us.”
New at PB: M. P. Kennedy on how we receive advertising, and what the passing of time does to our perception of it.
New at PB: M. P. Kennedy on how we receive advertising, and what the passing of time does to our perception of it.
“There’s nothing notable about a boy playing war games in his backyard. Unless, that is, he grows up to become the very avatar of revolution.”
No End to the Spanish Civil War? - Public Books
Latin America's own conflicts over land, Church, labor, and democratization, were played out, across the Atlantic, for all to see.
www.publicbooks.org
November 27, 2025 at 9:07 PM
“There’s nothing notable about a boy playing war games in his backyard. Unless, that is, he grows up to become the very avatar of revolution.”
“Even something as humble as a light box can make us dream.”
New at PB: M. P. Kennedy looks at Hamm’s light boxes, which you may have once seen on the wall of your favorite dive bar.
New at PB: M. P. Kennedy looks at Hamm’s light boxes, which you may have once seen on the wall of your favorite dive bar.
Cool Enchantment - Public Books
The ad is seductive but transparent. We don’t believe the copy but appreciate its innocence.
www.publicbooks.org
November 27, 2025 at 7:18 PM
“Even something as humble as a light box can make us dream.”
New at PB: M. P. Kennedy looks at Hamm’s light boxes, which you may have once seen on the wall of your favorite dive bar.
New at PB: M. P. Kennedy looks at Hamm’s light boxes, which you may have once seen on the wall of your favorite dive bar.
“The novel’s central emotional problem is the entanglement of politics and parental abandonment, and its historical and political analysis is clouded by its main character’s ambivalence and pain.”
New at PB: @kirstenweld.bsky.social reviews "Retrospective."
New at PB: @kirstenweld.bsky.social reviews "Retrospective."
No End to the Spanish Civil War? - Public Books
Latin America's own conflicts over land, Church, labor, and democratization, were played out, across the Atlantic, for all to see.
www.publicbooks.org
November 26, 2025 at 11:55 PM
“The novel’s central emotional problem is the entanglement of politics and parental abandonment, and its historical and political analysis is clouded by its main character’s ambivalence and pain.”
New at PB: @kirstenweld.bsky.social reviews "Retrospective."
New at PB: @kirstenweld.bsky.social reviews "Retrospective."
“Advertising shifts with the public mood, but the end is always the same—to associate a product with something desirable: status, pleasure, sex, or even virtue.”
Cool Enchantment - Public Books
The ad is seductive but transparent. We don’t believe the copy but appreciate its innocence.
www.publicbooks.org
November 26, 2025 at 9:07 PM
“Advertising shifts with the public mood, but the end is always the same—to associate a product with something desirable: status, pleasure, sex, or even virtue.”
New at PB: @kirstenweld.bsky.social reviews "Retrospective" by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (@riverheadbooks.bsky.social), a novel that tours the revolutionary world of the 20th-century through the story of Sergio Cabrera Cárdenas.
No End to the Spanish Civil War? - Public Books
Latin America's own conflicts over land, Church, labor, and democratization, were played out, across the Atlantic, for all to see.
www.publicbooks.org
November 26, 2025 at 6:26 PM
New at PB: @kirstenweld.bsky.social reviews "Retrospective" by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (@riverheadbooks.bsky.social), a novel that tours the revolutionary world of the 20th-century through the story of Sergio Cabrera Cárdenas.
Trump claims that after the Dept of Ed is destroyed, special education will be handled by the Dept of Health, which is run by RFK Jr.
The film “Totto-chan” is a hopeful vision of thriving in terrible times.
The film “Totto-chan” is a hopeful vision of thriving in terrible times.
“Totto-chan,” the Myth of Hans Asperger, and Disability Pride amidst Fascism - Public Books
In the lead up to World War II, one headmaster educated children with a variety of abilities—and doing all he could to protect his students from Japan’s authoritarian government.
www.publicbooks.org
November 26, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Trump claims that after the Dept of Ed is destroyed, special education will be handled by the Dept of Health, which is run by RFK Jr.
The film “Totto-chan” is a hopeful vision of thriving in terrible times.
The film “Totto-chan” is a hopeful vision of thriving in terrible times.
New at PB: M. P. Kennedy explores art, advertising, and kitsch, then and now.
Cool Enchantment - Public Books
The ad is seductive but transparent. We don’t believe the copy but appreciate its innocence.
www.publicbooks.org
November 25, 2025 at 7:18 PM
New at PB: M. P. Kennedy explores art, advertising, and kitsch, then and now.
New at PB, M. P. Kennedy returns to the pastoral sensibilities of a Hamm's light box. It's "too naive for a recent ad," writes Kennedy, but it's "seductive but transparent. We don’t believe the copy, but appreciate its innocence."
Cool Enchantment - Public Books
The ad is seductive but transparent. We don’t believe the copy but appreciate its innocence.
www.publicbooks.org
November 25, 2025 at 4:43 PM
New at PB, M. P. Kennedy returns to the pastoral sensibilities of a Hamm's light box. It's "too naive for a recent ad," writes Kennedy, but it's "seductive but transparent. We don’t believe the copy, but appreciate its innocence."
“These are terrifying times for people with disabilities. Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window shows a hopeful vision of how it’s possible for us to thrive even in terrifying times.”
“Totto-chan,” the Myth of Hans Asperger, and Disability Pride amidst Fascism - Public Books
In the lead up to World War II, one headmaster educated children with a variety of abilities—and doing all he could to protect his students from Japan’s authoritarian government.
www.publicbooks.org
November 25, 2025 at 2:35 PM
“These are terrifying times for people with disabilities. Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window shows a hopeful vision of how it’s possible for us to thrive even in terrifying times.”
“Here, on the front lines of climate change, in these glimpses of risk and rot, of retreat and refusal, the story of Lahore is also the story of our world.”
Walking Lahore, Watching the World - Public Books
The new mosque's central dome dominates the town's skyline, but competes with an 80-metre-high replica Eiffel Tower, and a scale reproduction of Trafalgar Square.
www.publicbooks.org
November 24, 2025 at 9:07 PM
“Here, on the front lines of climate change, in these glimpses of risk and rot, of retreat and refusal, the story of Lahore is also the story of our world.”
“Teaching curiosity is perhaps what we really need to be doing at this moment in time, more than anything else.”
Cloth and Complicity: Seth Rockman on Plantations, Textiles, and the Art of Weaving - Public Books
“But I had found a set of instructions in the archives of one of New England's leading manufacturers of low-end woollen cloth for enslaved wearers.”
www.publicbooks.org
November 24, 2025 at 7:18 PM
“Teaching curiosity is perhaps what we really need to be doing at this moment in time, more than anything else.”
“The story of Kobayashi is the inspirational cinematic tale that I once envisioned Hans Asperger’s story being, and it turns out an amazing movie of this story already exists.”
@rubigb.bsky.social discusses “Totto-chan” and Disability Pride amidst Fascism.
@rubigb.bsky.social discusses “Totto-chan” and Disability Pride amidst Fascism.
“Totto-chan,” the Myth of Hans Asperger, and Disability Pride amidst Fascism - Public Books
In the lead up to World War II, one headmaster educated children with a variety of abilities—and doing all he could to protect his students from Japan’s authoritarian government.
www.publicbooks.org
November 24, 2025 at 4:07 PM
“The story of Kobayashi is the inspirational cinematic tale that I once envisioned Hans Asperger’s story being, and it turns out an amazing movie of this story already exists.”
@rubigb.bsky.social discusses “Totto-chan” and Disability Pride amidst Fascism.
@rubigb.bsky.social discusses “Totto-chan” and Disability Pride amidst Fascism.
“It is also, Asif suggests, a dramatic example of a dominant logic in Lahore’s recent history: its transformation from a city of gardens into a city of concrete and walls, a ‘series of segregations.’”
New at PB: Chris Moffat reviews “Disrupted City.”
New at PB: Chris Moffat reviews “Disrupted City.”
Walking Lahore, Watching the World - Public Books
The new mosque's central dome dominates the town's skyline, but competes with an 80-metre-high replica Eiffel Tower, and a scale reproduction of Trafalgar Square.
www.publicbooks.org
November 24, 2025 at 2:35 PM
“It is also, Asif suggests, a dramatic example of a dominant logic in Lahore’s recent history: its transformation from a city of gardens into a city of concrete and walls, a ‘series of segregations.’”
New at PB: Chris Moffat reviews “Disrupted City.”
New at PB: Chris Moffat reviews “Disrupted City.”
“There is a question that often comes up: What do you want us to do with this history?”
Cloth and Complicity: Seth Rockman on Plantations, Textiles, and the Art of Weaving - Public Books
“But I had found a set of instructions in the archives of one of New England's leading manufacturers of low-end woollen cloth for enslaved wearers.”
www.publicbooks.org
November 23, 2025 at 9:07 PM
“There is a question that often comes up: What do you want us to do with this history?”
New developments in Pakistan, such as Bahria Town in Lahore, are welcomed by Lahore’s elites. Protestors warn of corruption, land grabs, and accelerated environmental damage.
Walking Lahore, Watching the World - Public Books
The new mosque's central dome dominates the town's skyline, but competes with an 80-metre-high replica Eiffel Tower, and a scale reproduction of Trafalgar Square.
www.publicbooks.org
November 23, 2025 at 5:05 PM
New developments in Pakistan, such as Bahria Town in Lahore, are welcomed by Lahore’s elites. Protestors warn of corruption, land grabs, and accelerated environmental damage.
“That understanding of Asperger as a savior of the neurodivergent changed with the 2018 publication of Asperger’s Children by historian Edith Sheffer.”
“Totto-chan,” the Myth of Hans Asperger, and Disability Pride amidst Fascism - Public Books
In the lead up to World War II, one headmaster educated children with a variety of abilities—and doing all he could to protect his students from Japan’s authoritarian government.
www.publicbooks.org
November 23, 2025 at 2:35 PM
“That understanding of Asperger as a savior of the neurodivergent changed with the 2018 publication of Asperger’s Children by historian Edith Sheffer.”
In an interview with Stephanie Wong, Seth Rockman discusses his new book, “Plantation Goods,” and the overlooked economic ties that bound the North and South before the Civil War.
Cloth and Complicity: Seth Rockman on Plantations, Textiles, and the Art of Weaving - Public Books
“But I had found a set of instructions in the archives of one of New England's leading manufacturers of low-end woollen cloth for enslaved wearers.”
www.publicbooks.org
November 22, 2025 at 7:18 PM
In an interview with Stephanie Wong, Seth Rockman discusses his new book, “Plantation Goods,” and the overlooked economic ties that bound the North and South before the Civil War.
The right to an accessible education is at risk. The film "Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window" is a moving portrait of a school that protected vulnerable students under an authoritarian regime.
“Totto-chan,” the Myth of Hans Asperger, and Disability Pride amidst Fascism - Public Books
In the lead up to World War II, one headmaster educated children with a variety of abilities—and doing all he could to protect his students from Japan’s authoritarian government.
www.publicbooks.org
November 22, 2025 at 5:05 PM
The right to an accessible education is at risk. The film "Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window" is a moving portrait of a school that protected vulnerable students under an authoritarian regime.
In the 1860s, Maulvi Nur Ahmad Chishti, employed by the East India Company, made a detailed mapping of Lahore’s sacred sites, which author Manan Ahmed Asif began retracing. But in a Lahore that for decades has prioritized cars, Asif faced new challenges.
Walking Lahore, Watching the World - Public Books
The new mosque's central dome dominates the town's skyline, but competes with an 80-metre-high replica Eiffel Tower, and a scale reproduction of Trafalgar Square.
www.publicbooks.org
November 22, 2025 at 2:35 PM
In the 1860s, Maulvi Nur Ahmad Chishti, employed by the East India Company, made a detailed mapping of Lahore’s sacred sites, which author Manan Ahmed Asif began retracing. But in a Lahore that for decades has prioritized cars, Asif faced new challenges.