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Pirate Enlightenment, or The Real Libertalia Book Review

David Graeber
A retelling of the "golden age" of pirates (think treasure chests and long-bearded captains) that brings a new perspective by criticially analyzing what source material remains from that time. Graeber argues that Enlightenment ideals were shaped in places far away from Europe, whether on pirate ships that had elements of democratic governance, mixed with a culture of sexual liberation and women's empowerment on the island of Madagascar. For much of the book, he painstakingly pieces together documents from less-than-reliable narrators to uncover how pirate culture influenced Malagasy society and vice-versa. The story gets lost in the weeds, but there's enough substance here to make it worthwhile.

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Utopia Book Review

Heidi Sopinka
A searing story of meaning-making and surviving in spite of unfair circumstances, *Utopia* follows feminist artists in 70s LA trying to break free from expectations and find purpose on their own terms. Interspersed with journal entries and flashbacks, this novel collapses the distance between past and present as a mystery slowly unravels. It's about the ways in which we can become closer with someone after they've left us. The language is vivid and arresting at a line level, with short chapters that keep changing focus.

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Lurking Book Review

Joanne McNeil
We need a book like this to help us remember that the Internet we have is more fragile and changeable than we think. That online culture exists in the context of society, and that currently-dominant platforms will eventually give way to something new. McNeil's focus on the experience of users, not tech companies themselves, reorients the discussions about what the Internet was and what it could become.

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How I made a public archive of my Twitter posts

It's past time to stop giving any oxygen to the ongoing dumpster fire that is Twitter/X. For those of us who joined in the early days, it's sad to walk away from the platform that had been a touchpoint for political organizing and local community-building. But it's not that place anymore, and the …

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