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"Luke Ford reports all of the 'juicy' quotes, and has been doing it for years." (Marc B. Shapiro)
"This guy knows all the gossip, the ins and outs, the lashon hara of the Orthodox world. He’s an [expert] in... all the inner workings of the Orthodox world." (Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff) LATEST POSTS:
- Anthony Lane: A Life
- Author Philip Gourevitch
- Joseph Telushkin: The Accountant’s Son Who Taught America Judaism
- Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph (2012)
- WP: As Christians are attacked in Israel, government shows little concern
- Life as a Haredi Jew
- Moral Philosopher Derek Parfit
- The Life of George Gilder
- Richard Posner’s Legal Pragmatism
- The MLA: A History
- The Great Delusions in History Theory
- Allan Bloom: The Teacher Who Wanted Your Soul
- The Great Delusions in Literary Theory
- William K. Wimsatt Jr.: The Judge of Evidence
- Larissa MacFarquhar: The Woman Who Slows Judgment Down
- Stanley Fish: A Biography
- Hortense Spillers: The Grammar Lesson
- Paul Gilroy: A Biography
- Walter Benn Michaels: A Biography
- Harvey Cox: The Theologian Who Bet on the City
BEST POSTS:
- * The Enlightenment Wasn’t Enlightened (6-23-26)
* Mr. Burge Draws The Line (6-23-26)
* 'Improving on Democracy' (6-17-26)
* People Leak To People Who Are Fun (6-11-26)
* Why Does Australia Produce So Many Great Journalists? (6-11-26)
* Steve Wynn and the Press: Power, Litigation, and the Contest Over Las Vegas (6-3-26)
* Sheldon Adelson and the Journalists (6-3-26)
* The Vigilant Animal: Thinkers Who Reject the Myth of Human Gullibility (6-2-26)
* The Cost of Refusing the Misunderstanding Myth (6-2-26)
* Show Me How It Travels (6-2-26)
* The Norm Explainers (6-2-26)
* Centering Marginalized Voices (6-1-26)
* What would it look like if the Washington Post put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What would it look like if the Financial Times put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for the Los Angeles Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for The New York Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
* Why Wembanyama Lives on the Perimeter (5-31-26)
* The Emotional Palettes Of San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco & Sacramento (5-27-26)
* The Administrative Capital: Sacramento Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* San Diego - The Quiet Republic (5-27-26)
* The Quiet Bar: San Diego Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* SF v LA Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* Why Talent Travels Poorly Between San Francisco and Los Angeles (5-27-26)
* San Francisco and Los Angeles as Rival Models of Urban Access (5-27-26)
* Social Cliques in New York, 2026 (5-25-26)
* Social Cliques in San Francisco, 2026 (5-25-26)
* The Rival Courts of Washington (5-25-26)
* The City of Private Rooms (5-25-26)
Author Archives: Luke Ford
How LA’s Elite Private Schools View Each Other
Per Alliance Theory: The “Blue Chip” Academic Powerhouses Harvard‑Westlake School (Studio City / Beverly Hills) and Brentwood School are widely seen as the academic and social gold standard. They are known for intense college prep, competitive admissions, and Ivy League … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Los Angeles
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How Do Members Of Israel’s Leading Yeshivot View Each Other?
Per Alliance Theory: Aish HaTorah Ohr Somayach How they see themselves Gateways. Emergency responders. Without us, thousands would be lost. How the elite yeshivot see them Necessary but second tier. Good at persuasion, weak at producing top learners. Belief inflation … Continue reading
How do Australia’s various social classes view each other?
Here is the Alliance Theory map for Australia’s social classes. Same mechanics as the US, different moral grammar. Australia runs on egalitarian signaling layered over real hierarchy. Upper class and old elites Currency is quiet capital. Property, private schools, boards, … Continue reading
Posted in Australia
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How do America’s various social classes view each other?
Here’s the Alliance Theory map. Social classes are not just income tiers. They are rival status systems competing to define what counts as dignity. Upper class Currency is capital control. Ownership, boards, networks, legacy institutions. They view the upper middle … Continue reading
Posted in America
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How Do Residents Of America’s Ten Biggest Cities View Each Other?
Here is the Alliance Theory map of how residents of the ten biggest US cities implicitly read one another. This is reputation logic, not tourism copy. New York City New Yorkers see themselves as the apex city. Cultural capital, finance, … Continue reading
Posted in America
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How do doctors, chiropractors, accountants, lawyers, and engineers view each other?
Here’s the Alliance Theory map. These five professions are not just jobs. They are rival authority systems with different status currencies. Doctors Currency is life-and-death sovereignty. They make irreversible decisions under uncertainty. That gives them moral prestige. How they view … Continue reading
Posted in America
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How Do The Health Professions View Each Other?
Here is a blunt Alliance Theory map of how the health professions actually view one another. Not how they talk in brochures. How the status system works underneath. First principle. Healthcare is a stacked hierarchy with one scarce resource at … Continue reading
Posted in Health
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How do the major American groups view each other?
Per Alliance Theory, this is how groups read one another in America today, based on status competition, moral leverage, and institutional power. Groups assess each other by asking three questions, usually unconsciously: Who has prestige. Who controls institutions. Who can … Continue reading
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How Israel’s Various Alliances View Each Other?
Alliance Theory premise to keep in mind. Groups do not primarily argue about truth. They compete over status currencies, boundary control, and legitimacy. How they see each other follows directly from what each group rewards. Start with the Ashkenazi Litvish … Continue reading
Posted in Israel
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Decoding Ohr Somayach – Jerusalem
Ohr Somayach solves a problem that Aish HaTorah does not address and cannot. Aish ignites belief. Ohr Somayach teaches you how to live inside the system without constantly feeling like an immigrant. If Aish is the conversion funnel, Ohr Somayach … Continue reading
Posted in Ohr Somayach
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