What We're Reading

Hello Material Supporters,

Here is what we’re reading this week:

Editor in Chief Benjamin Wittes is reading “Nine Nasty Words” by John McWhorter.

Executive Editor Natalie Orpett read about the competing portrayals of Paul Rusesabagina and his treatment by the Rwandan government, which persuaded her to move further up on her reading list a book called “Do Not Disturb” that she's been meaning to read.  She also read Anand Gopal's article (written prior to the U.S. withdrawal) about rural Afghan women's experiences under various occupations, as well as Jelani Cobb's excellent profile of Derick Bell, which adds some much-needed context to the current debate over critical race theory.

Publisher and Chief Operating Officer David Priess is re-reading this remarkable essay in the Washington Post by Robert Kagan about our looming constitutional crisis and the refusal of so many politicians to recognize and try to prevent it. Kagan's assessment, while difficult to read because of the dire situation it describes, is well worth every reader's time.

Senior Editor Quinta Jurecic is reading “Subprime Attention Crisis,” a book by Tim Hwang—now general counsel of Substack—arguing that online advertising, the financial engine behind much of the internet, is built on sand.

Senior Editor Alan Rozenshtein is reading a New Yorker article, “On the Internet We’re Always Famous.”

Managing Editor Jacob Schulz is reading Ben Smith's New York Times column about the wild shenanigans that came during a fundraising round for the confusing media start-up Ozy. He also enjoyed a thoughtful reflection in Input Magazine about how teen forums helped middle schoolers and high schoolers form their political identities in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.

Associate Editor Rohini Kurup is reading “The Warmth of Other Suns” by Isabel Wilkerson. It's an incredible narrative nonfiction book that tells the story of the Great Migration, an often overlooked event in U.S. history.

Associate Editor Bryce Klehm is reading David Philipps’s new book “Alpha: Eddie Gallagher and the War for the Soul of the Navy SEALS.” Philipps explores the saga of Eddie Gallagher in extreme detail and provides a rare critical glimpse into the culture of U.S. special operators.

Intern Emily Dai is reading Jeffrey Rosen’s “The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries That Defined America.” She is also reading this Bloomberg article about Justice Neil Gorsuch’s relationship to the legacy of the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

Lawfare’s Quote of the Week:

From “On the Special Counsel’s Weird Prosecution of Michael Sussmann” by Benjamin Wittes:

“Even taken on its own terms, the document is one of the very weakest federal criminal indictments I have ever seen in more than 25 years covering federal investigations and prosecutions. It depends in its entirety on the testimony of a single witness who is on the record, under oath, saying something rather different from what the indictment alleges.”

From the Lawfare Vault:

March 7, 2019: “Canada and the Rule of Law in the Meng Wanzhou Matter” by Craig Forcese

Thank you!