Public Books
@publicbooks.bsky.social
Public Books is an online magazine of ideas, arts, and scholarship. www.publicbooks.org
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.
“In America today, ‘DEI’ (diversity, equity, and inclusion) has become the right wing’s go-to slur, and many of the anti-DEI orders stealthily add an extra letter to the demonized acronym: ‘A’ for accessibility.”
“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 21, 2025 at 11:55 PM
“In America today, ‘DEI’ (diversity, equity, and inclusion) has become the right wing’s go-to slur, and many of the anti-DEI orders stealthily add an extra letter to the demonized acronym: ‘A’ for accessibility.”
“It’s the best new movie I’ve seen this year, and its portrait of discrimination, caregiving, and war-making is one that we desperately need right now.”
Reuben Baron on "Totto-chan". (If you’re in NYC, catch a screening next Tues, 11/25 @japansociety.org.)
Reuben Baron on "Totto-chan". (If you’re in NYC, catch a screening next Tues, 11/25 @japansociety.org.)
“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 21, 2025 at 5:05 PM
“It’s the best new movie I’ve seen this year, and its portrait of discrimination, caregiving, and war-making is one that we desperately need right now.”
Reuben Baron on "Totto-chan". (If you’re in NYC, catch a screening next Tues, 11/25 @japansociety.org.)
Reuben Baron on "Totto-chan". (If you’re in NYC, catch a screening next Tues, 11/25 @japansociety.org.)
“Bahria Town is only the latest in a series of entanglements among architecture, wealth, and authority in Lahore.”
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 21, 2025 at 4:07 PM
“Bahria Town is only the latest in a series of entanglements among architecture, wealth, and authority in Lahore.”
New at PB: In an interview with Stephanie Wong, Seth Rockman discusses the historian’s challenge of imagining oneself across differences of cosmology and spirituality, of material conditions.
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 21, 2025 at 2:35 PM
New at PB: In an interview with Stephanie Wong, Seth Rockman discusses the historian’s challenge of imagining oneself across differences of cosmology and spirituality, of material conditions.
In 2018, Chris Moffat visited the Grand Jamia Masjid in Bahria Town, Lahore, a new gated community. It has its own schools and shops. And it’s all behind fortified gates.
What do these developments mean for the future of Lahore, once a city of gardens?
What do these developments mean for the future of Lahore, once a city of gardens?
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 20, 2025 at 11:55 PM
In 2018, Chris Moffat visited the Grand Jamia Masjid in Bahria Town, Lahore, a new gated community. It has its own schools and shops. And it’s all behind fortified gates.
What do these developments mean for the future of Lahore, once a city of gardens?
What do these developments mean for the future of Lahore, once a city of gardens?
“There are so many problems with transcending our subjectivities; so many difficulties when encountering the violence that structured a past that can’t and shouldn’t be reproduced or approximated.”
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 20, 2025 at 9:07 PM
“There are so many problems with transcending our subjectivities; so many difficulties when encountering the violence that structured a past that can’t and shouldn’t be reproduced or approximated.”
New at PB: In a review of "Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window," @rubigb.bsky.social calls it "morally courageous, cinematically brilliant."
Catch a screening of "Totto-chan" on 11/25, 7 pm, at the @japansociety.org in NYC.
Catch a screening of "Totto-chan" on 11/25, 7 pm, at the @japansociety.org in NYC.
“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 20, 2025 at 5:59 PM
New at PB: In a review of "Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window," @rubigb.bsky.social calls it "morally courageous, cinematically brilliant."
Catch a screening of "Totto-chan" on 11/25, 7 pm, at the @japansociety.org in NYC.
Catch a screening of "Totto-chan" on 11/25, 7 pm, at the @japansociety.org in NYC.
New at PB: In a review of Disrupted City by Manan Ahmed Asif (@thenewpress.bsky.social) Chris Moffat describes Asif's quest to walk Lahore—a city that has transformed from one of gardens to one of concrete and walls, a “series of segregations."
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 20, 2025 at 5:30 PM
New at PB: In a review of Disrupted City by Manan Ahmed Asif (@thenewpress.bsky.social) Chris Moffat describes Asif's quest to walk Lahore—a city that has transformed from one of gardens to one of concrete and walls, a “series of segregations."
While researching his new book “Plantation Goods,” @sethrockman.bsky.social went to the then Marshfield School of Weaving and set to work reconstructing the 19th-century textiles he’d read about in the archives:
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 19, 2025 at 7:18 PM
While researching his new book “Plantation Goods,” @sethrockman.bsky.social went to the then Marshfield School of Weaving and set to work reconstructing the 19th-century textiles he’d read about in the archives:
“It seemed urgent that I should at least know a little bit about what it might have felt like, any of the kinds of tactile or sensory experiences of making cloth.”
New at PB: @sethrockman.bsky.social on the research process for his new book, “Plantation Goods.”
New at PB: @sethrockman.bsky.social on the research process for his new book, “Plantation Goods.”
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 18, 2025 at 9:07 PM
“It seemed urgent that I should at least know a little bit about what it might have felt like, any of the kinds of tactile or sensory experiences of making cloth.”
New at PB: @sethrockman.bsky.social on the research process for his new book, “Plantation Goods.”
New at PB: @sethrockman.bsky.social on the research process for his new book, “Plantation Goods.”
New at PB: Stephanie Wong interviews Seth Rockman (@sethrockman.bsky.social) about his latest book, "Plantation Goods: A Material History of American Slavery (@uchicagopress.bsky.social) and his experience learning to work on a late 18th-century loom.
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 18, 2025 at 5:26 PM
New at PB: Stephanie Wong interviews Seth Rockman (@sethrockman.bsky.social) about his latest book, "Plantation Goods: A Material History of American Slavery (@uchicagopress.bsky.social) and his experience learning to work on a late 18th-century loom.
“Carr’s novella is offering up an allegory of the historical replacement of religion by art as a source of meaning.”
B-Sides: J. L. Carr’s “A Month in the Country” - Public Books
The impact of the novel’s silences and enigmas is amplified by the enigma that is Carr himself.
www.publicbooks.org
November 18, 2025 at 2:35 PM
“Carr’s novella is offering up an allegory of the historical replacement of religion by art as a source of meaning.”