The Pandemic in America
Lawrence Wright’s exhaustive and historically important account of the
COVID-19 crisis contains the surprising revelation that Dr. Deborah Birx, the coördinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force under Donald Trump, spent much of the past year travelling through the United States and cajoling governors, public-health officials, hospitals, universities, and others to impose masking orders and other measures to help stop the spread of the disease (“The Plague Year,” January 4th & 11th). Birx and her colleague Irum Zaidi covered twenty-five thousand miles in rented cars, and seem to have persuaded even the governor of Texas to implement a mask mandate. Wright notes that Birx was “the only federal official” who consistently promoted masks and social distancing in this way. Although she did not halt the Trump Administration’s sabotage of other lifesaving measures, Birx made critical arguments in places where they were most needed, and undoubt
6 new paperbacks for reading list By Moira Macdonald, The Seattle Times
Published: January 24, 2021, 6:04am
Share: A Beautiful Crime by Christopher Bollen. (Harper)
It’s a new year, and time for hope and self-examination and … maybe some new books? Visit your local bookstore and wish them well for 2021 and don’t miss that new-in-paperback table, which might hold these recommended titles and many more.
• “A Beautiful Crime” by Christopher Bollen (HarperCollins, $16.99). “What makes the crime in Bollen’s stylish new novel so beautiful is that the perps’ plan works out even better than they’d hoped at least for a while,” wrote Washington Post reviewer Dennis Drabelle of “A Beautiful Crime” last year. In a plot that sounds very Patricia Highsmith-influenced, the tale focuses on two young New Yorkers and co-conspirators determined to carry out a fraudulent plan including some questionable silver and a crumbling palazzo in Venice, I
Itâs a new year, and time for hope and self-examination and . maybe some new books? Visit your local bookstore and wish them well for 2021 â and donât miss that new-in-paperback table, which might hold these recommended titles and many more.
âA Beautiful Crimeâ by Christopher Bollen (HarperCollins, $16.99).
âWhat makes the crime in Bollenâs stylish new novel so beautiful is that the perpsâ plan works out even better than theyâd hoped â at least for a while,â wrote Washington Post reviewer Dennis Drabelle of âA Beautiful Crimeâ last year. In a plot that sounds very Patricia Highsmith-influenced, the tale focuses on two young New Yorkers and co-conspirators determined to carry out a fraudulent plan including some questionable silver and a crumbling palazzo in Venice, Italy. At a time when we canât visit Venice ourselves, Drabelle suggests, âyou might want to settle for a few cuticle-biting hoursâ with thi
A transcript of Episode 23 of The Politics of Everything,
Laura Marsh: If you do an office job,
there’s a good chance you spent a lot of the last year staring at your
colleagues on Zoom, working at a table somewhere in your home, maybe wearing
sweatpants. In April 2020, 62 percent of American workers were doing their jobs
remotely. Some companies have even closed their office spaces permanently.
Today we’re talking about remote work.
Alex Pareene: How was it invented?
Laura: Why didn’t it catch on earlier?
Alex: And later we’ll be talking about giving
up work altogether.