Weekend reads for September 20, 2025: Stand up, speak out, come together

Why Americans fear -- and want -- socialism, living among informants, the inner meaning of denim, and more

Happy Saturday, Ink readers!

It’s been a tough week for American democracy, with the Trump regime and its allies leveraging the death of right-wing influencer and activist Charlie Kirk to silence critics, the states accelerating their redistricting war ahead of the 2026 midterms, regional alliances filling the gaps in public health as the federal government abandons its responsibilities, and oligarchs consolidating power ever further.

The challenges ahead are big ones. But there are plenty of reasons for hope. Case in point: a new Jacobin and Data for Progress poll suggests that what Americans really want is what New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and Senator Bernie Sanders are selling — real solutions to their real problems, not authoritarianism. It’s a reminder that, as we’ve written in the newsletter this week, there’s a world on the other side of this, and it’s always a good time to think about what that can look like — and begin to act to make it happen.

Below, as we do each weekend for our supporting subscribers, we’ve collected the most intriguing, challenging writing and thinking we’ve come across in our reading and research this week. Among the links you’ll find in today’s edition:

• What does free speech look like if the neighbors are listening?

• Americans may fear socialism — but is it actually what they want?

• Can an artist work ethically in these times?

• What has civility gotten America?

• What does the history of denim tell us about the soul of America?

• Are A.I. companies reinventing colonialism?

• And, as always, music

You won’t want to miss any of it. Thank you so much to our supporting subscribers for making this newsletter possible. If you haven’t yet joined our community, why not become part of this and help us build the future of independent media today?

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In The Ink this week

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And now, your weekend reads

Socialism: what everyone fears — and what everyone wants

Nobody knows what socialism means. Perhaps a better way to say this is that everyone who says “socialism” means something different. The worst person to ask about what socialism is is a Republican, who doesn’t know what socialism means, and will tell you that everything is socialism. The second worst person to ask is a leftist college professor, who knows exactly what socialism means, and will tell you that nothing qualifies as real socialism. Somewhere between these poles lies the elusive Practical Definition of Socialism, which nobody ever stops long enough to lay out before launching into their various tirades. [How Things Work]