On this episode of The Point podcast series “Selected Essays,” Jess Swoboda and Zach Fine talk to the writer Adam Shatz about James Baldwin's essay “Alas, Poor Richard” (1961), a eulogy of sorts for Richard Wright, and Adam's new book, Writers and Missionaries: Essays on the Radical Imagination (Verso 2023), which gathers a series of intellectual portraits of great thinkers and writers such as Wright, Claude-Levi Strauss, Chester Himes, Jacques Derrida, Fouad Ajami and Edward Said.

On this bonus episode of “Selected Essays,” Merve Emre and Tobi Haslett discuss the great American essayists Elizabeth Hardwick and Susan Sontag. Merve and Tobi revisit their own essays about Hardwick and Sontag—published in The Atlantic, Harper’s, The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker—and consider why it’s hard to imagine critics like them existing today.  For more where that came from, check out Jess’s interview with Tobi Haslett from last year and Merve’s pieces for The Point. You can also order On Women, a new collection of Susan Sontag’s writings, with an introduction by Merve. 

On this episode of The Point podcast series “Selected Essays,” Jess Swoboda and Zach Fine talk to the writer Anne Fadiman about Virginia Woolf’s “The Death of the Moth” (1942) and Anne’s essay from the April 2023 issue of Harper’s, “Frog”—a eulogy of sorts for the family frog, Bunky, which was partially inspired by Woolf’s meditation on a moth fluttering back and forth across a window pane. 

On this episode of The Point Podcast, Jonny Thakkar talks to our resident anatomist of the global political zeitgeist: Anton Jäger, a historian of political thought at the Catholic University of Leuven. Anton joins us to discuss his essay for issue 29, “Everything Is Hyperpolitical,” an ambitious attempt at historicizing our hyperpolitical present, which he diagnoses as the culmination of a trajectory from mass politics to post-politics.Hyperpolitics beyond the intuitive definition (3:20)The relation between post-politics and technocracy (13:28)“I think I stumbled onto it, and not in a particularly elegant way”: inventing hyperpolitics and why we need it (17:20)The challenges of generalization, and how the U.S. ended up in a hyperpolitical predicament without a history of European-style mass politics (23:13)Is the phenomenology of hyperpolitics just the phenomenology of social media? (38:47)The division between politics and policy, and the difference between political will and political demands (47:11)International relations and alternative hyperpolitical paradigms (51:22)Culture as political unconscious: the benefits of the Adam Curtis approach (59:48)

On this episode of The Point podcast, we’re introducing a new series called “Selected Essays”—about essays you should read but probably haven’t. Jess Swoboda and Zach Fine talk to the critic Christian Lorentzen about George Trow’s “Within the Context of No Context,” an essay that took up almost an entire issue of the New Yorker in 1980, and they revisit Christian’s cover story from the April 2019 issue of Harper’s, “Like this or Die: The Fate of the Book Review in the Age of the Algorithm”—which was partially inspired by Trow’s essay.

Lola Seaton, a writer and editor at the New Left Review, dives into the unique writing style of Stanley Cavell, exploring how his philosophical insights foster human connection. She discusses Cavell's reading of 'King Lear' and its themes of love and responsibility. The conversation highlights the tension between his ornate prose and democratic aspirations, while also examining the importance of ordinary language in philosophical thought. Seaton provides tips for beginners wanting to engage with Cavell’s work and emphasizes the role of authenticity in literature and philosophy.

The Point podcast is back after a long hiatus with an episode about the 2022 midterms. Point editors Jon Baskin and Joey Keegin are joined by the journalist and native Ohioan James Pogue to debrief two key elections—JD Vance in Ohio and Blake Masters in Arizona. What will Vance's victory—and Master's defeat—mean for the National Conservative movement that has embraced them? Jon, James and Joey talk about the emerging fissures in the conservative coalition: In the fight to claim the mantle of Trumpism without Trump, will it be the NatCons or the "chaos agents" that will win out?  Where will the GOP go from here? And what lessons, if any, can Democrats take from the latest election cycle and all of this ferment on the right?Timestamps:What is national conservatism, and who are its political standard-bearers? (03:50)What are we to make of the relationship between tech—typically a bastion of seasteading libertarianism—and this ultranationalist, morality-driven politics? (16:52)Do voters care about the issues that are motivating Nat Con politicians, or do Vance and Masters have an elitism problem? (28:35)Who will be the true inheritors of Trumpism: the Nat Cons or the MAGA “chaos agents”? (30:09)What lessons, if any, can Democrats take from the midterms and, more broadly, this increasingly prevalent feeling among the American people that the liberal system as it is currently set up is no longer working for them? (38:23)Relevant reading:“Where Dreams Come True: The national conservatives go to Orlando” by Joey Keegin (The Point)“Inside the New Right, where Peter Thiel Is Putting His Big Bets” by James Pogue (Vanity Fair)“Going Back to Cincinnati” by James Pogue (American Conservative)“Academia’s Holy Warriors” by Jon Baskin (The Chronicle Review)“Among the Reality Entrepreneurs” by James Duesterberg (The Point)

Afterthoughts is a discussion series from The Point where our editors talk to writers and readers about new issues of the magazine. On this episode, a recording of a Zoom event held on November 1st, Jon and Rachel talk to literary critic Ryan Ruby (author of “Resisting Oblivion” in issue 25) and critic and Point editor Becca Rothfeld (author of “Sanctimony Literature” in Liberties) for a discussion about the political novel today.The political significance of the novel was discussed with anguished urgency during the Trump years: Should writers call attention to present forms of injustice and discrimination in their fiction? Do they have a moral responsibility to speak out against oppression and abuses of power? What makes a political novel good? Now, a year after Trump was voted out of office, have we learned anything about the role the novel ought to play in turbulent times? In addition to these timely issues, the conversation also covers larger questions that have survived the Trump mind warp: about the relationship between politics and art, the ancient quarrel between philosophy and literature, and how novels memorialize the past.

Afterthoughts is a discussion series from The Point where our editors talk to writers and readers about new issues of the magazine. On this episode, Rachel, Jon and Joey are joined by Michelle Taylor and Daniel Silver to discuss their essays in issue 24.Essays discussed in this episode:“The Logic of the Like” by Daniel Silver: https://thepointmag.com/examined-life/the-logic-of-the-like/“No One Is Talking About This” by Michelle Taylor: https://thepointmag.com/criticism/no-one-is-talking-about-this/Subscribe to The Point to read this issue and more: http://thepointmag.com/subscribe

On Episode 3 of Rather Be Reading, Anastasia Berg interviews Andrea Long Chu about her debut essay in n+1 “On Liking Women” and the problem with trying to get our desires to conform to our political principles (1:03). Then Rachel Rosenfelt, the founding editor of the New Inquiry and new publisher of the New Republic, joins us to talk about the history of Occupy at leftist magazines and the future of the New Republic (26:24). Finally, we call up Jon’s mom for her two cents on Doris Lessing, sexist bosses and Bernie bros (36:59).Editors: Jon Baskin, Anastasia Berg & Rachel WisemanGuests: Andrea Long Chu, Rachel Rosenfelt & Judy WiseRelevant Sources:- “On Liking Women” by Andrea Long Chu in n+1: nplusonemag.com/issue-30/essays/on-liking-women/- “Does Anyone Have the Right to Sex?” by Amia Srinivasan in the LRB:https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n06/amia-srinivasan/does-anyone-have-the-right-to-sex- “Lesbianism or Feminism: Synonyms or Contradictions?” by Robin Morgan, 1973 West Coast Lesbian Conference address:http://www.onearchives.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Lesbianism-and-Feminism-Synonyms-or-Contradictions-by-Robin-Morgan-April-14-1973.pdf- “Tired of Winning” by Jon Baskin in The Point:thepointmag.com/2018/politics/tired-of-winning- “Occupy a Bank” by Sarah Leonard in the New Inquiry:thenewinquiry.com/occupy-a-bank/- “Switching Off” by Rachel Wiseman in The Point:thepointmag.com/2018/examined-life/switching-off- “Leaving Herland” by Nora Caplan-Bricker in The Point:thepointmag.com/2018/politics/leaving-herland+ the rest of our new intellectuals symposium:https://thepointmag.com/point_symposia/what-are-intellectuals-for