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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:
- Robert Putnam: The Man Who Counted What America Lost
- W. Bradford Wilcox: The Sociologist Who Tells America to Get Married
- Peter Moskos: The Cop Who Talks to People
- Julius Krein
- Ryan Burge: The Numbers Man in the Empty Church
- Emily Oster: The Economist in the Delivery Room
- The Most Ridiculous Story Ever Told
- Tanner Greer
- Economist Tyler Cowen
- Richard Reeves: A Life in Institutions
- Jake Adelstein: The Reporter Who Became His Story
- Jim Goad (1961-2026)
- Moira Greyland
- Robert Oscar Lopez: The Inconvenient Witness
- Two Ledgers: Decoding the Gurus and the Price of Talk
- The Pervert’s Progress: Costin Vlad Alamariu and the Making of Bronze Age Pervert
- Curtis Yarvin: A Life Against Democracy
- Mark Helprin: Against the Current
- Mark Brandt: The Man Who Asked Who Else Is Prejudiced
- John T. Jost: The Psychologist of Acquiescence
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)
Category Archives: Australia
Saying Goodbye to Australia
Isabella Kwai writes for the New York Times Australia newsletter: It was the slow pace that struck me most when I returned to my hometown, Sydney, three years ago from Washington, D.C. Walking behind strangers, who always seemed to amble … Continue reading
The Rise And Rise Of Kerry Packer: Uncut
Here are some highlights from this 2007 book by Paul Barry: * Clyde was an intellectual who liked to talk about books. People in Santa Barbara, where he lived, did not talk about books, said one close friend; they did … Continue reading
Singo: The John Singleton Story
Here are some highlights from this 2010 book about the legendary Australian ad man: * work is for working and grog is for getting pissed. * Singleton enforcing a booze ban might seem like Dracula handing out bandaids but he … Continue reading
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Say It With Feeling: Megastars, Media Tsars, Trailblazing TV: Memoirs of a Prime Time Warrior
Born and raised in the Mid-West, Gerald Stone, whose father was a Russian-Jewish immigrant who got his start in America as a bootlegger, moved to Australia in 1962 with his family and began writing for the Sydney Mirror newspaper. Here … Continue reading
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Things You Learn Along The Way By John Menadue
According to Wikipedia: “John Laurence Menadue AO (born 8 February 1935) is an Australian businessman and public commentator, and formerly a senior public servant and diplomat. He is currently a patron of Asylum Seekers Centre, a not-for-profit that provides personal … Continue reading
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Killing Fairfax: Packer, Murdoch and the Ultimate Revenge
Here are some highlights from this 2013 book: * Then they turned the conversation — as they had so many times before — to Fairfax, the hallowed newspaper company and third force on Australia’s media scene. Fairfax was in free … Continue reading
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Malcolm Turnbull: A Bigger Picture
Here are some highlights from the autobiography of the former Australian Prime Minister: * only 7 per cent of Australia is above 600 metres, as compared with 45 per cent of the United States. Another factor is our volatile and … Continue reading
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Who Wants to Be a Billionaire? The James Packer Story
Here are some highlights from this 2010 book: That someone was Kate Fischer, who was tall, striking, fun and famous. Kate had hit the limelight at the age of fourteen by beating 6000 others to win Dolly magazine’s 1988 Cover … Continue reading
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NYT: Australia Thought the Virus Was Under Control. It Found a Vulnerable Spot.
From the New York Times: The authorities have locked down 300,000 people in heavily immigrant areas around Melbourne, reinforcing the coronavirus’s outsized impact on disadvantaged communities…. The rise in infections — Victoria reported 77 new cases Thursday, the most since … Continue reading
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Anglo-Australian Attitudes: Remembering and Re-reading Russel Ward
Academic Carl Bridge writes: In my job as head of the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies in London I am called upon regularly to try to explain the actions and words of my fellow Australians to the puzzled Poms and … Continue reading
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