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December 15, 2017

From Harper's:
In thinking racism is a major problem, the gap between Democrats and Republicans is now wider than that between blacks and whites.

From Harper's:
The crew of the Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley were killed by the shock wave of their own torpedo.

From The Economist:
Today the world's three most valuable companies are tech firms.

From The Guardian (Roddy Doyle on Best books of 2017):
The war is almost over, the Russians are getting nearer and two young men join the SS. A bad career move, but To Die in Spring is a wonderful, precise, very moving novel by German author Ralf Rothmann (Picador, translated by Shaun Whiteside). Anything Is Possible (Viking) is predictably great because it’s written by Elizabeth Strout, and brilliantly unpredictable – because it’s written by Elizabeth Strout. I like most of the books I read but, now and again, I read one I wish I’d written myself. This year it’s Reservoir 13 (4th Estate), by Jon McGregor. Its structure, pace, detail, tone, humanity – it’s a quiet masterpiece.

From Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny:
Both fascism and communism were responses to globalization: to the real and perceived inequalities it created, and the apparent helplessness of the democracies in addressing them.
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