Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Holiday reading on nybooks.com: Drew Gilpin Faust on the legacy of John Hope Franklin and history as “a weapon of collective defiance,” Michael Massing on journalism and the one percent, Ian Johnson on China’s state propaganda and Xi Jinping’s reforms, and Bruce Holsinger on parchment. Happy Thanksgiving!

John Hope Franklin: Race and the Meaning of America Drew Gilpin Faust Many Americans in 2015 seem to be undertaking an unprecedentedly clear-eyed look at the nation’s past, at the legacy of slavery and race that has made us anything but a colorblind society.   ADVERTISEMENT   Reimagining Journalism Michael Massing On all sides, billionaires are shaping policy, influencing opinion, promoting favorite causes, polishing their images—and carefully shielding themselves from scrutiny. Journalists have largely let them get away with it.   China: The Illusion of Change Ian Johnson Xi Jinping is often described as China’s most powerful leader in decades. Yet since he came to power, the only area where he has shown real creativity has been in coming up with new ways of legitimizing his rule.   ADVERTISEMENT   Written on Beasts Bruce Holsinger For a thousand years, the Western world transmitted and preserved much of its written cultures on and between the skins of beasts.