Ian Beacock

@IanPBeacock

How a spoof conspiracy theory became a perfect study of how misinformation spreads

David Graeber’s final book uncovers the politics of the high seas.

In the 1960s, a British researcher launched one of the largest ever studies of people who believed they could see the future.

“The Great Experiment” flatters liberal readers that by expressing their distaste for cancel culture, they have become diverse democracy’s most gallant defenders. 

Harold James laments that we’ve lost the true meanings of words like “democracy” and “capitalism.”

Hernan Cortes, Captain Cook, and Prince Philip were each worshiped as deities—with very different consequences.

A new book argues that Whitman’s celebration of fellow feeling could unite America today.

With big popular histories, Ferguson once aimed to influence a broad public. His pandemic book may resonate with a narrower audience.

Joe Biden has a generational opportunity to restore solidarity in the citizenry—through words alone.

Sonia Furstenau, the head of British Columbia’s Green Party, has a vision for climate policy that reclaims nostalgia as a leftist emotion.

From George Washington to Simón Bolívar, magnetic leaders built modern democracies. They also broke them.

While leaders in the U.S., U.K., and France spout nationalist rhetoric, Angela Merkel has emphasized core democratic values in response to the coronavirus.

A new book looks at how the Axis powers shaped the art world to their own ends.