Liberties Journal of Culture and Politics: Spring 2021

“A Meteor of Intelligent Substance”

“Something was Missing in our Culture, and Here It Is”

“Liberties sure is needed in these times.”

In a short time since its launch, Liberties - A Journal of Culture and Politics, a quarterly, has become essential reading for those engaged in the cultural and political issues and causes of our time. The writers in Liberties offer deep experience from across borders, national identities, political affiliations and artistic achievements. As the introductory essay in the inaugural edition noted, “At this journal we are betting on what used to be called the common reader, who would rather reflect than belong and asks of our intellectual life more than a choice between orthodoxies.”

Each issue of Liberties features original in-depth essays and compelling new poetry from some of the world's most significant writers, artists, and scholars, as well as introducing new talent, to inspire and impact the intellectual and creative lifeblood of today’s culture and politics.

This spring issue of Liberties includes: 

• Giles Kepel on the Murder of Samuel Paty
• Ingrid Rowland’s Long Live the Classics!
• Vladimir Kara-Murza Surviving Putin’s Poisons
• Paul Starr on Reckoning with National Failure from Covid
• Becca Rothfeld on Today's Sanctimony Literature
• Enrique Krauze explores What is Latin America?
• William Deresiewicz on Why Great Visual Art Forces Us to Think; Benjamin Moser on Rediscovering Frans Hals
• David Nirenberg on What We Can Learn from Earlier Plagues
• Agnes Callard’s view of Romance without Love, Love without Romance
• Mitchell Abidor looks back to “Social Media” in 1895 to Understand a Crowd’s “Wisdom”
• The Tallis Scholars' Peter Phillips on the Secrets of Josquin
• David Thomson on Movies’ Poetic Desire
• Poetry from Henri Cole, Chaim Nachman Bialik, and Paul Muldoon 
• Leon Wieseltier (editor) asks "Where Are the Americans?” 
• And Celeste Marcus (managing editor) writes for a Pluralistic Heart.

Leon Wieseltier is the editor of Liberties.

Celeste Marcus is the managing editor of Liberties.

Gilles Kepel is the Middle East and Mediterranean Chair Professor at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris and the author most recently of Terror in France: the Rise of Jihad in the West and Away from Chaos: The Middle-East and the Challenge to the West. This essay was translated by Henry Randolph.

Ingrid Rowland is the author, among other books, of From Pompeii: The Afterlife of a Roman Town. She teaches at Notre Dame.

Vladimir Kara-Murza is a Russian opposition politician and writer. He chairs the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom and serves as vice president at the Free Russia Foundation.

Paul Starr is a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University, and the author, most recently, of Entrenchment: Wealth, Power and the Constitution of Democratic Societies.

Henri Cole is an American poet. Blizzard, his latest collection of poetry, was published last year.

Becca Rothfeld is a PhD candidate in philosophy at Harvard and a contributing editor at The Point.

Enrique Krauze is a Mexican essayist, producer, and publisher. He is the author of many books and the founder of the magazine Letras Libres. This essay was translated by Thomas Bunstead.

William Deresiewicz is the author of Excellent Sheep and, most recently, The Death of the Artist.

Benjamin Moser is the author, among other books, of Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector and Sontag: Her Life and Work.

Chaim Nachman Bialik was one of the giants of modern Hebrew poetry and one of the founders of modern Jewish culture. This translation is dedicated to Allan Nadler.

David Nirenberg is the Dean of the Divinity School of the University of Chicago.

Agnes Callard is a professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago.

Mitchell Abidor is a writer and translator, most recently of Victor Serge’s Notebooks 1936–1947.

Peter Phillips is a choral conductor, a musicologist, and the founder of The Tallis Scholars.

Paul Muldoon is an Irish poet. His most recent book is Frolic and Detour.

David Thomson’s new books A Light in the Darkness: A History of Movie Directors and Disaster Mon Amour will be published this year.