The polycrisis, Beyoncé's range, and money worship: Weekend reads for April 27, 2024

Some writing worth your attention

It’s been a tumultuous week: The first criminal trial of a former U.S. president began in New York, just as the Supreme Court began hearing Trump’s claims of absolute immunity (spoiler: they seem sympathetic, at least to a point). Meanwhile the EPA ordered the coal industry to clean up, Lina Khan’s FTC banned noncompete agreements, and President Biden signed the foreign-aid bill Congress has been performatively debating for months (including not just the long-delayed Ukraine aid package, but the TikTok ban and more assistance for Taiwan and Israel). Anti-war protests have spread to campuses across the country, with university and government officials clamping down with a wave of arrests that have played into a Republican PR strategy that depends on intractable chaos. 

We’ve been tracking these issues and more, and, as we do every weekend, we’ve put together some great readings that we think are worth your time and reflection, that will help you step back and take the bigger view.

In case you missed it

• We talked to Nobel-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz about his new book, The Road to Freedom in which he tackles why neoliberalism failed, how its failure drives the crises we’re experiencing now, and the difficult question of what might replace it.

• Author Ruth Whippman told us about her new book, BoyMom, which digs into the roots of the emotional crisis facing men and boys that we’ve been exploring at The Ink.

• And we reflect on the question of whether Donald Trump might face some measure of justice — and what it means for America if he doesn’t.

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We hope the articles we’ve collected below for our subscribers to read challenge you to see the world in new ways. Thanks, as always, for reading The Ink and continuing to support us.

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Turning the page on neoliberalism

The emotional fallout of market fundamentalism

[C]ompared to the Left, the Right has been far more strategic and successful in engaging with these four cultural responses to neoliberalism. This report focuses on a specific strategic avenue embraced by the Right in its mobilization efforts: its engagement with and weaponization of cultural responses to the failures of neoliberalism as a means for shaping worldviews, manufacturing consent, and recruiting individuals into its movements, all while speaking to people’s day-to-day concerns, lived experiences, and discontents. [Roosevelt Institute]