Recommended by Gavin Thomas
Timothy Snyder is a history professor. Much of his work has focused on Eastern Europe, the Holocaust and on the battle between democracy and dictatorship. His book "On Tyranny" has sold a bajillion copies and rightly so. You should check it out if you haven't already. He's one of the leading thinkers on how to resist dictatorship. If you're only gonna read one blog during these insane times then it should probably be his.
It was Lucian who recommended I start writing on Substack, and I don't know if I'd have found my way here without his help. He started writing for the Village Voice back in the 1960s. He wrote about all the struggles and progress of the last 60 years as it was happening, and he's writing about it now - in blunt, emphatic and not infrequently profane language - as Donald and Elon and JD try to make it stop happening. He has a broad view and a multi-disciplinary perspective that stand out.
Tiya Miles is a history professor who writes about race relations in America in ways that can be both elegant and fierce, and that are always humane. She also writes about love, ghosts, politics, sacred spaces and science fiction, among other things. Her book "All that She Carried" is a painful and excellent read, you should check it out.
Etienne Toussaint is a law professor who also writes poetry. Good poetry, you should look for "You Asked for This"... He writes about justice and goodness from a wider perspective based in culture and community, and emphasizes growing ourselves in order to be fully present and fully of use. Rigorous and relevant, but also fun because you don't know what he's gonna write about next.