Farah Bashir I remember the early days of Covid and the curfew, when we ran to shops to stock up on food and essentials. I also remember the fear and the uncertainty that came from having no idea when it would end. This was a foe we didn’t understand, which didn’t even have an intent. […]
Politically and philosophically, the Cold War is unparalleled in its significance. Many, if not all, geopolitical conflicts and tensions in the world have some connection with the events and personalities of the Cold War. Odd Arne Westad does a stellar job of mapping time, time, places, and people and cover everything that deserves a spot.
I think if there is one book you should read to understand the sociopolitical information warfare on social media happening daily, this is it. Peter Pomerantsev uses his first-hand experience and personal stories to write an extremely well-researched book whose narrative and language is easily accessible.
David Graeber uses history and evidence to upend the commonly accepted origin stories of money. From morality to religion to state, he probes deeply to prove that ‘the history of debt is also the history of money’. Splendid read!
Even the best of liberal democracies have not been able to solve for “identities”. Fukuyama does a great job of tracing the evolution of identity in the first part of the book, but fumbles a little bit by restricting himself to a single perspective when analysing contemporary identity politics in the second half.