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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:
- Dennis Prager v Cedars-Sinai Lawsuit
- Dennis Prager Through Randall Collins: Interaction Ritual Chains
- What is a ‘Received Idea’?
- Jordan Bardella: The Manufacture of Normality
- Everyone Became Television: Bourdieu’s Warning and the 2026 Iran War
- Marine Le Pen
- The Coalition-Proximity Rule
- Nigel Farage
- Bernard Haykel: A Life Between the Text and the Gun
- Walker Connor (1926-2017)
- Benedict Anderson and the Nation as Imagination
- Anthony D. Smith: The Student Who Kept the Question and Rejected the Answer
- Ernest Gellner
- Eric Kaufmann: The Man Who Made the Majority Visible
- Dominic Cummings: A Biography
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- Stephen Kotkin: A Life in Power
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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)
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* 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)
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* 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)
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Tag Archives: new novel
I Don’t Like To Look At Fat People
Unless the person has some extraordinary qualities or proximities to me, I don’t like to look at fat people. If I see the person in shul or at work or in a writer’s group or at yoga and I get … Continue reading
Posted in Diana Spechler, Personal
Tagged emotional truth, jewish book, new novel, odd jobs, shul, two novels
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Skinny – Diana Spechler’s New Novel
On April 21, I interviewed by phone novelist Diana Spechler about her new book Skinny. In 2008, I interviewed Diana in Brentwood about her debut – Who By Fire. Luke: “Give me an overview.” Diana: “In early 2006, I decided … Continue reading
Posted in Diana Spechler
Tagged camp director, emotional truth, fiction fiction, good writing, new novel, water aerobics
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Wrestling With My Sexuality
Professor D.G. Myers writes: What I am suggesting is that the two treatments of dialogue in the contemporary novel—the scrupulous mimicry of everyday speech and the studied exclusion of differing points of view—are connected at the level of basic assumptions … Continue reading
Posted in Sex
Tagged atomic weapons, hiroshima and nagasaki, luke ford, new novel, reading luke, robb forman dew
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By Fire, By Water
I just finished reading this terrific new novel by Mitchell James Kaplan. We talk by phone today. Luke: “Mitchell, when you were a child, did you want to be a novelist when you grew up?” Mitchell: “Yes. Certainly from the … Continue reading
Posted in Jewish Literature
Tagged cate school, dysfunctional world, james kaplan, latest books, munich germany, new novel
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Dennis Prager Delivers The 7th Annual Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture
Who was Ariel Avrech? 10 a.m. Young Israel of Century City (YICC). I walk in clutching a copy of the new novel — By Fire, By Water — written by Mitchell James Kaplan. I flip to the first page, which … Continue reading
Posted in Dennis Prager, Personal, Robert J. Avrech
Tagged Dennis Prager, james kaplan, nathaniel hawthorne, new novel, shul, Young Israel
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‘Sima’s Undergarments For Women’
I read this new novel straight through last Shabbat. I loved its story about an old life redeemed by a beautiful girl. I interviewed the author, Ilana Stanger-Ross, on March 19. Luke: "When you were a child, what did you … Continue reading
Posted in Jewish Literature
Tagged career ambitions, Facebook, high school friends, israeli girl, new novel, shabbat, sima, sound of falling rain, stanger, upper middle class
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Are Israelis Wary Of Befriending Americans?
Because Americans making aliyay (moving to Israel) are so likely to return home. That was an insight in Danit Brown’s new novel, "Ask For A Convertible." Danit replies to my inquiry: "I don’t know if it’s true, and even if … Continue reading
Posted in Israel
Tagged cultural differences, danit, english speakers, israelis, new novel
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‘The End of the Jews’ II
On Monday, I interview Adam Mansbach about his new novel, "The End of the Jews." Here’s part one. Luke: "How did your white peers react to your interest in black culture?" Adam: "They were the ones who gave me s— … Continue reading
Posted in Blacks, Jewish Literature
Tagged adam mansbach, black culture, black kids, classmates, derisive nickname, fielding questions, jewish tradition, new novel
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‘The End of the Jews’
I was sucked right in by Adam Mansbach‘s provocative new novel, "The End of the Jews." Here’s part two of the interview. The beginning of the book is good ol’ fashioned storytelling. It has the making of an epic, an … Continue reading
Posted in Jewish Literature
Tagged adam mansbach, american novel, genre fiction, independent production, new novel, triumph of the will
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Who By Fire
I’m enjoying this new novel by Diana Spechler. Was Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach the epitome of Jewish love? I always thought so until the past few years. From Diana’s new book: A wise Jew says: "And it’s not your fault you … Continue reading
Posted in Jewish Literature
Tagged jewish girls, jewish women, new novel, nineteen years, penitents, yosi
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