Andrew Gleeson

Aug 22, 2023 | quillette.com | Samuel Kronen |Jamie Palmer |Andrew Gleeson

“The second book you publish,” Shelby Steele’s editor once told him, “is the hardest one you will ever write.” In Steele’s case, it turned out to be his best. After the publication of The Content of Our Character: A New Vision of Race in America in 1990, Steele found himself in the intellectual spotlight on the most contentious issue in the country. That experience changed his life.

Aug 17, 2023 | quillette.com | Ramesh Thakur |Ethan Blevins |Andrew Gleeson

When the Australian Labor Party won the federal elections of May 2022, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised to amend the Constitution to give Aboriginal Australians a new body, known as the “Voice,” which would advise both Parliament and the government on Aboriginal matters. In June 2023, the Constitution Alteration Bill authorized a referendum on the Voice, which is expected to take place between October and December.

Aug 10, 2023 | quillette.com | Andrew Gleeson |Samuel Kronen |Jamie Palmer

In May 2017, representatives of Australia’s indigenous peoples—Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders—met at Uluru, the great monolith at the physical centre of the continent which serves as the symbolic heart of the country. After four days of deliberation, they released an appeal to the Australian people called the Uluru Statement from the Heart. The language of the Statement is concise, temperate, and moving. Its tone is neither that of an importunate beggar nor of an incendiary activist.

Jun 12, 2023 | quillette.com | Christian Kriticos |Andrew Gleeson |Barry Wiener

Setsuko Nakamura was 13 years old when the atomic bomb hit Hiroshima. She remembers seeing “a blinding bluish-white flash” and then “having the sensation of floating” as the building around her collapsed. When she regained consciousness, she heard the faint cries of her classmates, trapped in the burning ruins: “Mother, help me. God, help me.” Three hundred and fifty-one of her schoolmates died—just a fraction of the overall death toll, which is estimated at anywhere from 70,000 to 140,000.

Mar 27, 2023 | quillette.com | Nina Paley |Christian Kriticos |Andrew Gleeson

This past winter, I made my first comic book in 30 years, titled Agents of H.A.G. I crowdfunded it on Indiegogo, raised 150 percent of its modest $1,000 goal, and ordered a few hundred copies to be printed. But before I could access the funds to pay the printer, Indiegogo retroactively canceled the campaign and refunded all the backers. There was no explanation provided, no appeal process, and no recourse.