A virtual art heist, Black cowboys, selling climate action, and videophiles versus the Mafia: Weekend reads for April 20, 2024
Some things worth your attention this weekend
For your reading pleasure this Saturday, we’ve gathered a collection of pieces we hope will keep you entertained and — we hope — enlightened: a deep dive into the work of a group artists trying to right historical wrongs through digital thievery; an essay on the essential role Black cowboys played in the building of the culture of the American West; a sobering look back at how much the debate on campus free speech has changed since the turn of the millennium; some thoughts on how to sell climate action to economic decision makers; and much more.
In case you missed it
With the widening war in the Middle East, Trump’s criminal trial in New York finally getting underway, and Congress maneuvering on everything from campus speech to Ukraine funding to TikTok, there's been a lot to keep up with this week. But worry not — you can catch up with what we’ve been covering right here.
Journalist Jane Perlez told us about what we need to know about China; philosopher Mark Ralkowski took on how we see ourselves in Larry David; we looked back at labor organizer JaneMcAlevey’s long career, and delved into how Donald Trump might imagine jury selection, if he were running the show at his criminal trial in New York.
We hope the articles we’ve collected below for our subscribers (as we do each weekend) challenge you to see the world in new ways. Thanks as always for reading The Ink.
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The virtual Robin Hoods reclaiming stolen art
We’re going to go to the British Museum,” he told me last fall, recounting the scheme. “We’re going to wear balaclavas, dress in all black, wear masks.” The target: hundreds of objects from the historic Kingdom of Benin, in what is now southern Nigeria, including some of the Benin Bronzes, a collection of plaques and sculptures looted by the British in 1897. [Noema]
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