Inspired by my piece on the collapse of excellence in our culture, a friend pointed me to the writing of Alana Newhouse, editor in chief of Tablet magazine. She wrote a piece in 2021 entitled “Everything is Broken” that touches on many of the issues that I am concerned about.
As we prepped for this podcast, she shared a few supporting pieces that are good to go through as we navigate this topic. She also introduced me to the term “Brokenism” to describe how the most important divide in our culture isn’t left-right but “those who believe there is something fundamentally broken in America, and that it’s an emergency, and those who do not.”
I think there is something in this, especially because I think the upcoming generation feels this more potently (and will impact it more powerfully) than older folk.
We also talked about the importance of physicality, which led Alana to recommend County Highway, a “magazine about America in the form of a [physical] 19th century newspaper”.
Finally, if you’re inclined toward reading more about excellence, culture, art, and beauty, check out the latest IM 1776 issue “The Culture Stone”. IM 1776 is really well done literary journal and I’ve enjoyed every one of their issues.
Here is the recommended reading for this podcast:
Everything is Broken - January 14, 2021 - Alana Newhouse
Beauty Has Become Our Enemy - December 19, 2022 - David Samuels
The Death of Cool - July 13, 2025 - David Samuels
Brokenism - November 21, 2022 - Alana Newhouse
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