“These men, carried away by their passions, were but blind tools of the most melancholy law of necessity, but considered themselves heroes and imagined that they were accomplishing a most noble and honorable deed.” —Tolstoy, War and Peace
Профиль
Phil Klay
Профиль VivelyAuthor of Redeployment, Missionaries, and Uncertain Ground: Citizenship in an Age of Endless, Invisible War. Teaches at Fairfield University MFA.
“I’m also doing this for my students,” Ms. Prabhakar said [of her lawsuit]. “They were robbed — they were excited to come to class.” Disturbing story out of Florida. Educators need to be able to assign challenging work. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/29/u...
Florida Professor Fired for Assigning a Profane Story, Lawsuit SaysSouth Florida State College fired an English professor after she assigned a story about a teacher who talks about sex with her students. Now the professor is suing.www.nytimes.com“Modern people struggle with the idea of true heroes. A figure who identifies what needs to be done and then does it without tremendous inner conflict? What’s the point of that? Such a person will make most modern audiences only feel like failures.” www.nytimes.com/2026/07/26/o...
Opinion | ‘The Odyssey’ Gives Us the Hero We DeserveChristopher Nolan’s Odysseus is a halfway hero: he wrestles with the problems he creates. That makes him a perfect figure for our modern moment.www.nytimes.comCaudle’s “path to that position is a case study in how the military promotion process at the Pentagon under Mr. Hegseth has deviated from tradition, leaving it susceptible in the view of critics to politicization and favoritism” Deeply disturbing, excellent reporting www.nytimes.com/2026/07/26/u...
An Admiral’s Rise Reveals the Politics Driving Hegseth’s Pentagon (Gift Article)Before he was picked to lead the Navy, Adm. Daryl Caudle found ways to signal his support for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s anti-diversity goals.www.nytimes.com
“Trying to build good will while engaging in gunfights beside people’s homes was profoundly confusing. The killing wasn’t detached; it felt deeply personal.” www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/w...
Why I Sought Out a Taliban Commander I Had Fought (Gift Article)First as a Marine and then as a journalist, I spent years tied to Afghanistan. I returned one last time to speak to a former enemy in search of answers, and perhaps closure.www.nytimes.com
⟳ Репост от Phil Klay
“writing has always been something of a defiant act against the world’s ceaselessness, even when it is scrutinizing the very same.”
Phil Klay“His country and beliefs have wounded him. Yet he endures, because he must.” Great Matt Gallagher piece on a great, and ever-relevant novel.
⟳ Репост от Phil Klay
Sometimes the world likes to try and break down those doing something meaningful. “Beer in the Snooker Club” is about what's left after. warontherocks.com/2026/07/how-...
How Revolutions Break Their BelieversWaguih Ghali, Beer in the Snooker Club (Vintage International, 2014) The noise, the noise, the unrelenting noise of the world: How is any writer with anwarontherocks.com“His country and beliefs have wounded him. Yet he endures, because he must.” Great Matt Gallagher piece on a great, and ever-relevant novel.
War on the RocksSometimes the world likes to try and break down those doing something meaningful. “Beer in the Snooker Club” is about what's left after. warontherocks.com/2026/07/how-...
⟳ Репост от Phil Klay
This is a good, strong stance by PEN America in defending the free expression of Jewish and/or Israeli writers. Along with supporting the same for Palestinian and/or Muslim writers, they are protecting a cultural commons with room for each and all of us.
Phil KlayWhen we hear from writers in our community whose voices are being silenced, and who feel unable to write freely and without fear, we won’t let fear of controversy stop us from telling their stories. We reject any attempt to discredit those experiences.” pen.org/a-statement-...
When we hear from writers in our community whose voices are being silenced, and who feel unable to write freely and without fear, we won’t let fear of controversy stop us from telling their stories. We reject any attempt to discredit those experiences.” pen.org/a-statement-...
A Statement to Our CommunityA letter from PEN America Co-CEOs Summer Lopez and Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf in response to the moment.pen.org“This is the politicization of intelligence, and it’s dangerous because what they’re doing is basically playing partisan politics with counterterrorism, and only looking at a sliver of the overall threat,” said Colin P. Clarke www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Rubio tries to enlist other nations in antifa fight, but some allies recoilThe secretary of state plans to convene foreign ministers in Washington next week. The event has unsettled some U.S. and European officials.www.washingtonpost.com“Jerusalem-based literary agent Deborah Harris represents dozens of leading voices of Israeli literature…Her agency typically sells five to 10 literary novels a year into the United States. Since Oct. 7, 2023, they have not sold a single one.” pen.org/a-silent-mor... @penamerica.bsky.social
‘A Silent Moratorium’Interviews with Israeli and Jewish writers who report facing rising isolation and exclusion.pen.org“But democracy demands its own kind of faith: a consistent orientation toward an ideal—that human societies might be guided by communication among equals rather than by force or fraud.” @commonwealmagazine.org www.commonwealmagazine.org/american-fou...
Rising Above the SlopThe United States, on its 250th birthday, is a country in decline. American Catholics should embrace this sour semiquincentennial as a moment for discernment.www.commonwealmagazine.org