You’re listening to What Rough Beast!
We are Virginia Heffernan and Stephen Metcalf, and today we’re talking with Nicholas Dames, a Columbia professor and editor-in-chief of Public Books. In this episode, we talk about:
* The importance of political imagination in building community beyond our immediate circles of concern
* How George Eliot's "Middlemarch" offers a model for empathetic action even during challenging times
* The tension between stoicism and engagement as responses to political upheaval
* How today's college students face unique anxieties about their futures and limited options
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