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Jan 22, 2025 | 
dissentmagazine.org | Gerry Canavan |Michael McCanne |Dan Sinykin
The Art of Obstruction A new art project uses the legal system of mineral rights as a means to block oil and gas extraction. All that Dissipates Must Descend In her short stories, Ottessa Moshfegh chronicles downward mobility on the part of the privileged—and in so doing exposes their unfitness to rule, if not to exist.
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Nov 16, 2024 | 
washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com | Dan Sinykin
In Big Fiction, Dan Sinykin tells the story of how conglomeration has impacted the substance and style of the fiction published in America. He outlines the history of the publishing industry and gives close readings of several novels — by writers as diverse as Toni Morrison, E.L. Doctorow, and Stephen King — that, in his view, offer commentary on those changes. For decades, commercial publishers proliferated in the United States.
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Oct 16, 2024 | 
thebaffler.com | Dan Sinykin
The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss. Viking, 416 pages. My daughter and I were the only browsers in a small bookstore when a woman entered to ask how to find a nearby donut shop. “So I’m in the wrong place altogether,” she replied to the bookseller’s instructions. “Unless you’d like to buy a book,” said the bookseller. The woman laughed and left. Bookselling is tough; that’s nothing new.
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May 22, 2024 | 
dissentmagazine.org | Nicole-Ann Lobo |Lovia Gyarkye |Dan Sinykin
Fragments of a New World In Suneil Sanzgiri’s new film, the landscape remains as a last witness to the violence of colonial power. ▪ Spring 2024 A photograph of Sita Valles dressed in a paisley blue miniskirt with a hand on her hip, leaning against a glossy red car, has made the young revolutionary an icon. It appears on book covers, posters, and a mural in Panjim, the capital of Goa, India.
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Mar 18, 2024 | 
thebaffler.com | Dan Sinykin
Publishing, even among culture industries, is notoriously sleepy as a capitalist enterprise. Many enter the field—and take spiritual compensation in lieu of higher pay, shaping employee demographics—because they love literature. Depending on one’s taste, this is a commitment sometimes in conflict with maximizing profits.
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Feb 13, 2024 | 
allevents.in | Dan Sinykin
About the event From Access to Art: Impact of AI on Video Join us for a discussion at the intersection of art, science, and technology with Amanda Needham, Managing Director of the Telly Awards. About this EventPlease join us for a panel discussion at the intersection of art, science, and technology with Amanda Needham, Managing Director of the Telly Awards.
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Jan 22, 2024 | 
dissentmagazine.org | Sam Adler-Bell |S. David |Dan Sinykin |Ava Kofman
Marvel World Marvel Studios has managed to recruit fans into rooting not just for its superheroes, but for the company’s business plan. ▪ Winter 2024 As a kid, my favorite superhero was Batman. For me, superheroes are all about their origin story—not necessarily how they got their superpowers (Batman, after all, doesn’t have any), but why they’re driven to super-heroism.
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Dec 18, 2023 | 
newyorkfolk.com | James White |Dan Sinykin
The ownership of the American publishing house Simon & Schuster has been much in the news over the past couple of years. First Penguin Random House tried to swallow it up, then a fascinating antitrust trial put a bunch of agents and writers on the witness stand. A judge eventually quashed that merger as potentially monopolistic, and more recently, a private-equity fund, KKR, swooped in to buy the company.
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Dec 14, 2023 | 
nextbigideaclub.com | Helena de Bres |Dan Sinykin |Michael Muthukrishna |Robert Sapolsky
Robert Sapolsky is an American neuroendocrinology researcher and author. His books include A Primate’s Memoir, The Trouble with Testosterone, Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, and Behave, a New York Times bestseller, and named a best book of the year by The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.
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Dec 11, 2023 | 
themillions.com | Dan Sinykin
A Year in Reading: Dan Sinykin I’ve been squatting in the firebombed (was it?) city of Bellona with Samuel Delany in spare pockets of time for what feels like years. (It’s been weeks.) (Not even through the first quarter.) Structural integrity has been compromised. Electricity is spotty. We read the local paper by candlelight for the hot goss. At least the gas works.
