To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page.

×
      LATEST NEWSOPINIONCLIMATEECONOMY POLITICS RIGHTS & JUSTICEWAR & PEACE
      LATEST NEWS
      OPINION

      tom engelhardt

      Books in a bookstore.

      On Burning Books, Burning Book Publishers, and Me

      What it means when we lose a publishing house.

      Tom Engelhardt
      Sep 27, 2022

      No one listened better than Studs. For those of you old enough to remember, that's Studs Terkel, of course. The most notable thing about him in person, though, was this: the greatest interviewer of his moment, perhaps of any moment, never stopped talking, except, of course, when he was listening to produce one of his memorable bestselling oral histories -- he essentially created the form -- ranging from Working and Hard Times to The Good War.

      I still remember him calling my house. He was old, his hearing was going, and he couldn't tell that my teenage son had rushed to answer the phone, hoping it was one of his friends. Instead, finding himself on with Studs talking a mile a minute, my son would begin yelling desperately, "Dad! Dad!"

      Keep ReadingShow Less
      Opinion
      Trump supporter

      Sad Beyond Words for What the Poison Named Trump Has Wrought

      What we’re watching is a tragedy of an unparalleled sort in the making for our children and grandchildren.

      Tom Engelhardt
      Aug 29, 2022

      Honestly, if you had described this America to me more than half a century ago, I would have laughed in your face.

      Donald Trump becoming president? You must be kidding!

      Keep ReadingShow Less
      Opinion
      Politics
      coupleposing

      A Cheer for Irma the Caricaturist: A Message in a Bottle From My Mother

      Small classics of mobilized wartime effort at the most personal level imaginable.

      Tom Engelhardt
      May 02, 2022

      Almost three quarters of a century ago, my mother placed a message in a bottle and tossed it out beyond the waves. It bobbed along through tides, storms, and squalls until just recently, almost four decades after her death, it washed ashore at my feet. I'm speaking metaphorically, of course. Still, what happened, even stripped of the metaphors, does astonish me. So here, on the day after my 71st birthday, is a little story about a bottle, a message, time, war (American-style), my mom, and me.

      Recently, based on a Google search, a woman emailed me at the website I run, TomDispatch, about a 1942 sketch by Irma Selz that she had purchased at an estate sale in Seattle. Did it, she wanted to know, have any value?

      Keep ReadingShow Less
      Opinion
      SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
      Quality journalism. Progressive values. Direct to your inbox.
      Follow Us
      Most Popular

      'The Billionaire Bailout': FDIC Chair Says the Biggest Deposit Accounts at SVB Held $13 Billion

      3 Children, 3 Adults Killed in Shooting at Christian Elementary School in Nashville

      'Noah's Wounds Were Not Survivable': Parents Allow Detailed View of AR-15 Carnage

      Internet Archive to Appeal 'Chilling' Federal Ruling Against Digital Books

      'This Scam Is a Non-Starter': Dems Blast McCarthy's Latest Call for Painful Cuts

      It Is Time to Show the American People Photographs of Children Massacred by Gun Violence

      Biden Urged to Crack Down on 'Terrifying' Use of AI by Medicare Advantage Insurers

      The Rule of Law Being Eviscerated by Republican Judges

      Biden Veto Expected After 4 Senate Dems, Sinema Help GOP Gut Water Protections

      GOP Voters Keep Backing Trump Because He Hates the 'Right' People

      SUPPORT OUR WORK.
      We are independent, non-profit, advertising-free and 100%
      reader supported.