SIO471 - I just can't anymore with this. It's so fucking pathetic that mainstream media and a whole bunch of pundits, even on the left, have to do this thing where they play dumb and pretend people like Elon have any sort of credibility. There is no plausible deniability on this and to pretend otherwise isn't good journalism or skepticism. It's... bad... those.
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How has a writer known principally for his contained domestic novels come to represent the most dynamic elements of world literature? In Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature(Bloomsbury, 2025), Chris Holmes expands our understanding of how world literature engages with the most pressing crises of the 20th and 21st centuries by examining Ishiguro's fascination with characters who are profoundly constrained in their ability to understand global systems to which they are subject. Rather than following the established pattern of so-called global novels, which crisscross the planet exhibiting a knowing cosmopolitanism, Ishiguro's fictional engagement with the world comes principally in the form of characters who are cut off from the global systems that abuse them.
By examining the ways in which Ishiguro foregrounds the in-process thinking of those who fail to comprehend their place in the flow of politics, culture, and ideas, Holmes positions Ishiguro as the great chronicler of everyday lives, and as such, prepares a mode of reading world literature that questions the assumptions for how we live and think with others when each of us is deeply limited.
Chris Holmes is Associate Professor and Chair of Literatures in English at Ithaca College. He is the host of the literary interview podcast, Burned by Books, and he is host and co-producer on Novel Dialogue, the podcast of the Society of Novel Studies, both of which are New Books Network partners. His most recent essays appear in NOVEL, MFS, Critique, and Public Books.
Caroline Levine is David and Kathleen Ryan Professor of the Humanities at Cornell University. She is the author most recently of The Activist Humanist: Form and Method in the Climate Crisis, and Forms: Whole, Rhythm, Hierarchy, Network.
It’s been a couple of days since President Donald Trump granted clemency to all of his nearly 1,600 supporters who faced charges for storming the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Most of them received full, complete and unconditional pardons for their actions that day. The 14 people who didn’t get pardons were all members of far-right extremist groups, and instead had their sentences commuted. Tess Owen, a freelance reporter covering extremism and politics, explains what Trump’s clemency actions mean for right-wing extremist groups and the threat of political violence in America.
Later in the show, David Hogg, who’s running for vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, talks about how Democrats can better speak to the needs of young voters.
And in headlines: House Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled plans to create a new House committee to counter the ‘false narratives’ around Jan. 6th, the State Department suspended the U.S. refugee admissions program, and the Trump administration barred federal health agencies from using external communications through the end of the month.
We're talking about President Trump mobilizing several agencies for his immigration crackdown and why even legal immigration pathways are being reconsidered.
And we'll tell you what detectives have been able to find out about a deadly shooting at a Tennessee high school.
Also, a far-right militia leader went to Capitol Hill. We'll tell you why.
Plus, we're talking about more destructive wildfires forcing evacuations in Southern California, another chapter in a celebrity legal saga, and the biggest home trends of 2025.
Those stories and even more news to know in about 10 minutes!
Join us every Mon-Fri for more daily news roundups!
Zuck’s reportedly launching smart Oakleys this year… and a smart watch and airpods next year.
PopUp Bagels is the fastest-growing bagel chain in America… and they prioritize inconvenience.
“Stargate” is Sam Altman’s new $500B AI project… it would be the most expensive thing we’d ever build.
Plus, the medals handed out at the Paris Olympics? They’re losing their gold.
$DNUT $META $MSFT
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A freshly re-inaugurated President Trump is reportedly considering making his first moves on tariffs: a 10% tariff on Chinese imports and a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, both of which he says could start as early as next week.
If the U.S. slaps tariffs on foreign products, U.S companies that import foreign goods, and their customers, will bear the cost. But, before any of that happens, businesses can also face a less tangible cost—uncertainty.
Today on the show, we hear from a couple business owners who experienced Trump's first trade war. And we'll learn how the uncertainty from tariffs, or just the threat of them, can have ripple effects throughout the economy.
Paris Marx is joined by Gaby Del Valle to discuss the inauguration of Donald Trump and what the tech oligarchy hopes to get from their relationship with him.
Gaby Del Valle is a policy reporter at The Verge and is working on a book on ecofascism that will be released by Bloomsbury in 2026.
Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.
The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham.
The Guardian published an opinion piece titled, “I knew one day I’d have to watch powerful men burn the world down – I just didn’t expect them to be such losers.”
Donald Trump talked a lot about immigration while on the campaign trail and as his second term begins, he’s getting to work: declaring a national emergency on the border, designating drug cartels as terrorist organizations, and partially suspending asylum and refugee programs.
Guests:
Jose Olivares, investigative journalist and immigration reporter.
Arelis Hernandez, immigration reporter at the Washington Post, based in Texas.
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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.
What do the decisions Trump has made so far tell us about his strategy for his second term? And what strategic options do the Democrats have? Nate and Maria talk birthright citizenship, tech CEOs, memecoins, and pardons.
And, Nate and Maria answer a listener question about the status of their driver’s licenses.
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