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The most dramatic example of Cyprus' division is the ghost town of Varosha. Left to decay in place for 50 years, various figures have proposed alternatives for the decayed beach resort's future, and one of the most intriguing was the Famagusta Eco-City Project. www.theusonian.com/p/famagusta-...

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Excited to be part of this panel next Thursday about the legacy of the master of the surreal, David Lynch. Register here to watch: brooklynrail.org/event/2025/0...

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Though Ann Patchett's "State of Wonder" presents itself as feminist retelling of "Heart of Darkness," the novel's execution of that goal raises some questions. This week in The Usonian. www.theusonian.com/p/state-of-w...

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

All writers know about the style textbook Strunk & White. What you may not know is that Strunk's son Oliver founded the field of musicology in the United States. paw.princeton.edu/article/lega...

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

What exactly is a cult? I found out while reporting another article. So, here’s what I uncovered. www.theusonian.com/p/how-to-rec...

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

New flattering review of my novel BLOOD FALLS on THE BLACK LIST. blcklst.com/dashboard/pr...

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

What makes a society resilient? After the Bronze Age collapse, only a few civilizations endured into the next age. Eric Cline on his recent book, "After 1177 B.C." @princetonupress.bsky.social

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

Friday deadline for this CFPs, so get yer archaeological horror on

submitted 37 days ago • 2 comments

What compelled two men to devote their lives in a dueling quest to visit the South Pole? Huntford’s masterpiece, “The Last Place on Earth” offers some answers, in a masterclass of narrative nonfiction writing. www.theusonian.com/p/the-last-p...

submitted 34 days ago • 0 comments

Participating in the Fulbright program was one of the greatest honors and joys of my career thus far. For it to fall victim to this administration's malicious incompetence is a disgrace to the program's international legacy for more than 75 years. www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

submitted 35 days ago • 0 comments

Hunterbrook may have cracked this one wide open. newsletter.hntrbrk.com/p/cracking-b...

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At the time of its inception in the 1960s, Eastwick, Philadelphia was the largest urban redevelopment project in American history. It had a sophisticated design by leading planner Constantinos Doxiadis, and its supporters included Robert Kennedy. What went wrong? www.theusonian.com/p/the-vision...

submitted 41 days ago • 0 comments

Crazy that Elizabeth Sparkle lost the Best Actress Oscar to Sue!

submitted 42 days ago • 0 comments

YELLOWJACKETS featuring a Candlebox song is their most deep-cut GenX choice yet

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Charles-Édouard Jeanneret’s 1911 trip to Greece changed his view of architecture forever. It made him Le Corbusier, and it persuaded him to change modern architecture. Read more from a work-in-progress. Usonian+ subscribers only. www.theusonian.com/p/the-clockm...

submitted 48 days ago • 0 comments

"I think the reason I’m interested in utopia as an idea is because, for me, utopia is always about alternatives." An illuminating conversation with Aaron Robertson about his rich portrait of Black countercultural figures in his much-lauded book, THE BLACK UTOPIANS. www.theusonian.com/p/the-black-...

submitted 55 days ago • 0 comments

Helen Park '18 always wanted to develop a better seaweed-based pasta. After visiting a seaweed market in Qingdao, China, Park realized the dream was possible. My latest for PAW: paw.princeton.edu/article/hele...

submitted 56 days ago • 0 comments

USAID doesn't just provide foodstuffs and medical assistance to people around the world, it also sponsors the restoration of monuments of important cultural heritage. My latest in The Usonian. www.theusonian.com/p/heritage-u...

submitted 62 days ago • 0 comments

Frank and Deborah Popper co-taught one of my favorite classes at Princeton. www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2025...

submitted 63 days ago • 0 comments

Colson Whitehead's "The Underground Railroad" is a testament to how an author can go about packaging a great idea for a wide audience.

submitted 69 days ago • 0 comments

USAID funded the restoration of several bicommunal monuments in Cyprus, such as Halal Sultan Tekke in Larnaca, one of the holiest sites in Islam. It's a true shame and stain on America to discontinue this agency and undermine this legacy, which has supported heritage around the world.

submitted 70 days ago • 0 comments

In 1836, Jonas King brought the first international students to Princeton. Through his missionary zeal, he also brought U.S. gunboat diplomacy to Greece. paw.princeton.edu/article/miss...

submitted 75 days ago • 0 comments

Cecilia Peck, the daughter of Hollywood icon Gregory Peck, studied The Canterbury Tales at Princeton at the insistence of Harper Lee. Today, Peck exposes cults through her hard-hitting documentary projects for Starz and Netflix. paw.princeton.edu/article/trut...

submitted 76 days ago • 0 comments

In the archives of the Loeb Library at Harvard is a curious text called “The Lagos Handbook,” which was never published. That text has an astounding essay about Constantinos Doxiadis, which has been unknown to outside scholarship. Until now. www.theusonian.com/p/the-void-a...

submitted 76 days ago • 0 comments

“The natural beauty of Los Angeles doesn't quit. The trouble is that when you go up against Mother Nature, Mother Nature bats last—you’re not going to win.” Rosecrans Baldwin rhapsodizes on how L.A. has responded to the devastating round of fires. www.theusonian.com/p/rosecrans-...

submitted 83 days ago • 2 comments

“It was the worst hellscape I’ve ever walked through,” says one Eaton fire survivor. My story on the LA Fires for Princeton Alumni Weekly. paw.princeton.edu/article/los-...

submitted 86 days ago • 0 comments

Since the LA fires began, it’s become a cliché to quote the three literary saints of Los Angeles on their descriptions of the Santa Ana winds and their accompanying wildfires— Raymond Chandler, Joan Didion, and Mike Davis. I’m gonna cite them anyway. www.theusonian.com/p/red-winds

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I scheduled this a while ago, and while my heart aches for Southern California, this post is more relevant than ever. Stay safe out there! www.theusonian.com/p/climate-ch...

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In 1951, architect Constantinos Doxiadis was removed from his Greek government position managing the postwar reconstruction of his country. This sent him on a quest to become a city planner across the world, from Iraq to Detroit. Read more in The Usonian: www.theusonian.com/p/doxiadis-a...

submitted 104 days ago • 0 comments

Friendly reminder to my Princetonian followers out there—it’s the last few days to back up your Princeton alumni Google Drive & Gmail files if you exceed the new 22GB limit. paw.princeton.edu/article/prin...

submitted 110 days ago • 0 comments

In my end-of-year post, I run through the highlights of the year—as well as my favorite reads and films—and reflect upon the last time a generation felt that it had lost its way.

submitted 111 days ago • 0 comments

For "Ex-Centric Narratives," I wrote about an extraordinary trove of memoirs regarding the Marshall Plan in Greece in the Paul R. Porter papers found in the Truman Presidential Library, revealing an American diplomatic corps coming to terms with the responsibility of becoming a global power.

submitted 114 days ago • 0 comments

On a whim, I bought a ticket for KRAVEN THE HUNTER. This morning, AMC was like, "yeah, we canceled your screening—no one deserves to see that" and refunded me. Glad AMC A-List is looking out for me.

submitted 117 days ago • 0 comments

THE BRUTALIST is a noteworthy film for a lot of reasons—but perhaps the most important thing it does, is that it organically tells a story situated in the confines of an architectural movement. My latest for The Usonian.

submitted 118 days ago • 0 comments

Yes, WICKED's Shiz University is based on Princeton. paw.princeton.edu/article/winn...

submitted 119 days ago • 0 comments

This week in The Usonian, I take a look at the bizarre narrative structure of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and David Fincher's film adaptation.

submitted 125 days ago • 0 comments

Was Abraham Lincoln gay? For The Brooklyn Rail, I wrote about Lovell Holder's Lavender Men, a film adaptation of Roger Q. Mason's play, which examines that very question.

submitted 127 days ago • 0 comments

Ah, Giving Tuesday, when all the publications I write for and that pay me ASK ME for money.

submitted 134 days ago • 0 comments

For PAW, I wrote about Herbert Adams Gibbons, an early international reporter whose gallivanting travels and declarative opinions anticipated that of Thomas Friedman. paw.princeton.edu/article/worl...

submitted 140 days ago • 0 comments

For Princeton Alumni Weekly, I investigated the scientific furor over Netflix's popular "Ancient Apocalypse" documentary series, which many archaeologists assert promotes pseudoscience.

submitted 148 days ago • 2 comments

"The Delos Symposia and Doxiadis," featuring my essay "The Visionary in the Marsh: Doxiadis and the dream of Eastwick," is now available from Lars Müller Press in Zürich. A six-year-journey from writing to publication finally meets its close. www.lars-mueller-publishers.com/delos-sympos...

submitted 149 days ago • 0 comments

Princeton has cut way down on "unlimited" Gmail storage for alumni. Here's what that means for your weekend. My latest for PAW: paw.princeton.edu/article/prin...

submitted 152 days ago • 0 comments

This week in The Usonian, I examine the teaser of Sam Esmail's pilot for MR ROBOT—a master-class in suspense screenwriting.

submitted 153 days ago • 0 comments

THE DELOS SYMPOSIA AND DOXIADIS is now available for preorder! In this anthology, I'm pleased to publish my essay about Greek architect Constantinos Doxiadis' 1960s project for Eastwick, Philadelphia, then the largest redevelopment project in the US. www.amazon.com/Delos-Sympos...

submitted 155 days ago • 0 comments

Mark Doten's TRUMP SKY ALPHA may not have all the answers, but I've found it's the best literary diagnosis of America's Trump illness. www.theusonian.com/p/the-audaci...

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For Princeton Alumni Weekly, I caught up with Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason about the twentieth anniversary of their novel THE RULE OF FOUR, a bestseller that was thought of as the Princeton version of THE DA VINCI CODE. paw.princeton.edu/article/twen...

submitted 168 days ago • 1 comment

Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is more than just a creation myth—it’s also a meditation on the haunting landscape of glaciers. My latest in The Usonian: www.theusonian.com/p/frankenstein

submitted 188 days ago • 0 comments

For Princeton Alumni Weekly, I spoke with literary translator Jennifer Shyue about how a workshop with Natasha Wimmer led to a career translating Latin American fiction into English. paw.princeton.edu/article/prin...

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I spoke with David Gissen about his book The Architecture of Disability, a work that seeks to help reevaluate what we take for granted in urban design, from the style of pathways at monuments and national parks to the ubiquitous template for the city street. www.theusonian.com/p/the-archit...

submitted 209 days ago • 0 comments