“The Road From Raqqa” Is a Story of Two Brothers That Will Resonate With Anyone Who Has Left Home
Mother Jones illustration For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Back in 2015, Jordan Ritter Conn went to Turkey to report on a rebel Syrian soccer team for Grantland. There was one big problem: The reporter spoke no Arabic. He got a tip to go to a small restaurant north of…
Please Excuse My Lack of Gratitude Over a Female Vice President
U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris Alex Wong/Getty Images For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Update: We know who he picked! It’s Kamala. Reading Kate Manne’s new book, Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women, during a particularly insipid conversation about woman-as-vice-president gives this feminist philosopher’s clear-eyed analysis of misogyny an element…
Megha Majumdar Has Written a Thriller for the Least Summery Summer Ever
Mother Jones illustration; Elena Seibert For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.In the opening pages of Megha Majumdar’s new novel, A Burning, Jivan witnesses a terrorist attack at a train station in Kolkata, India. Scrolling through Facebook later, she sees a clip of a woman wailing that nearby…
How Talking to Novelist Rebecca Makkai Helped Me Better Process Our Collective Grief
Mother Jones illustration; Philippe Matsas For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Several of my colleagues have spent the past few weeks writing what we’re calling “Plague Comforts,” sharing what they’re doing to get them through this very weird moment. Some have been sweet and very personal. Others, a little more off…
The 1918 Flu Pandemic Changed Literature More Than You Think
27th February 1919: A woman wearing a flu mask during the flu epidemic. Topical Press Agency/Getty For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.When my mom was ill with the pancreatic cancer that would take her life, she was frustrated with all the rhetoric describing cancer as a battle.…
True Crime in Indian Country: “Yellow Bird” Belongs on Your Quarantine Reading List
Mother Jones illustration For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Since Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman’s Search for Justice in Indian Country was published in late February, it’s been praised as a masterful work of true crime reporting. And it is. But it’s not just that. The…