Thierry Ehrmann, Abode of Chaos via Flickr
TAI Conversations
Is Xi Jinping Weaker Than We Think?

The author of China’s Crony Capitalism discusses the Chinese response to COVID-19, why the Communist Party reads Alexis de Tocqueville, and why the Chinese regime is both brittle and aggressive at the same time.

Leonid Pasternak, “The Passion of Creation” (Wikimedia Commons)
The Literary Life
A Sickness Unto Death

A new memoir by George Scialabba, an unsung giant of criticism, is a gripping portrait of life under the spell of depression—and also a model of true intellectual inquiry.

TAI Conversations
Robert Shafer: “The Greatest Music Is a Mystery”

The Grammy-winning conductor, composer, and artistic director of the City Choir of Washington looks back on a lifetime in music—from studying under Nadia Boulanger to his newest composition inspired by COVID-19.

(Anika Molnar/Netflix)
COVID-19 and Anti-Semitism
The Roots (and Risks) of Netflix’s Unorthodox

Netflix’s hit show Unorthodox is just the latest entertainment about young people fleeing orthodox Jewish communities. It’s worth asking why these narratives are resonating now.

(Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
USA vs. PRC
Our China Problem

Is China a rising threat to be confronted boldly, or a manageable problem to be handled patiently? Four new studies offer ammunition for both sides of the debate.

TAI Conversations
Stargazing with a Georgetown Jesuit

A Jesuit priest and historian of medieval Germany talks about astronomy, nature, music, service—and faith.

(Wikimedia Commons)
Lessons from Literature
The Pandemic Within, the Pandemic Without

Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year vividly records how human nature can devolve amid a pandemic—and challenges us all to grow in a time of crisis.

“Accusing the anointers in the great plague of Milan in 1630” (Wikimedia Commons)
Lessons from Literature
Life and Death in Bergamo

A classic short story by Danish writer Jens Peter Jacobsen—notorious in his time for its pessimism—offers a surprising kernel of hope in our own time of plague.

Parallels
Putin, Trump, and the Pandemic

COVID-19 is upending the political strategies of both Trump and Putin—and could endanger both leaders’ grip on power.

Lessons from History
The Pandemic and a Free Press

History shows that for the world’s autocrats, some control over the media is never enough—and COVID-19 offers dangerous new pretexts for consolidating their power.

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