We are now on @bluesky! Follow us and discover the best new books, articles, videos, podcasts, hidden gems, foreign language, and essays of the week, as well as select highlights from our free edition of the week – and much more.

@RosaRevistaRosa This essay is part of this week's edition of the Best of Journalism:

This piece argues that today's illiberal movements represent an authoritarian individualism, warning against reducing illiberalism to fascism and urging a nuanced analysis to confront this conservative revolution. By Ruy Fausto in @RosaRevistaRosa.

Our article of the week maps the global struggle over who gets to define language, highlighting the Real Academia Española’s efforts to defend “authentic” Spanish against Big Tech's algorithm‑driven dialects. By @Iker_Erdocia et al. in @Language_In_Soc.

@tessyschlo @TheIdeasLetter This essay can be found in this week's edition of the Best of Journalism:

Rather than abandon identity politics, this piece argues that we must embrace its friction. Identity is not possession but passage; liberation lies not in coherence but in living with messy, unresolved tensions. By @tessyschlo in @TheIdeasLetter.

Franz Kafka endures as one of the most iconic voices—and faces—of modern literature. Our video of the week tracks how readers globally have used him to confront bureaucracy, oppression, or cultural displacement. Feat. Karolina Watroba at @UWaterloo.

@e_flux This essay is featured in this week's edition of the Best of Journalism:

Anchored by Silvia Federici’s groundbreaking analysis of unpaid labor and capitalist accumulation, this text interrogates the entanglement of artistic labor, class struggle, and autonomy. By Stevphen Shukaitis in @e_flux.

Amid spiraling inflation, Nigerian importers are reshaping the rules of currency exchange. Our podcast of the week explores de-dollarization as a bottom-up process that prefigures a multipolar monetary order. With @culturemonger_ on @africasacountry.

The dismantling of Portugal’s MAL marked the end of one of the country’s most significant fascist cells. Our Portuguese pick of the week argues that the far right’s embrace of DIY militarism acts as political terror. By Tatiana Moura et al. in @Publico.

Framed as humanitarian innovation, insurance-linked securities allow investors to bet on everything from hurricanes to pandemics. Our essay of the week unpacks how speculative finance turns catastrophe into a tradable asset. By Susan Erikson in @mitpress.

Our hidden gem of the week traces how New Deal-era regulations birthed two rival regimes: Democrat-aligned institutional investors tethered to state-backed “social markets” and Republican-backed private funds built on tax privileges. By Cooper Melinda.

Against the backdrop of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, our book of the week analyzes the rise of Active Non-Alignment, a strategic posture adopted by an increasingly assertive Global South amid global fragmentation. By @jorgeheinel et al. on @politybooks.

This lecture uncovers how ancient Baghdad's rulers and merchants understood their role in an interconnected world, recasting early Islamic history through the lens of globalization and commerce. Feat. Hugh Kennedy at @UChicago Hong Kong.

Witchcraft is surging. This piece details how young practitioners, driven by social justice and ecology, are turning spells into tools for activism, proving witchcraft’s legacy of defiance is alive and transformative. By @molly_lipson.

The annual OCD conference in San Francisco offers a collision of personal anguish and cultural critique. Yet as this piece suggests, its carefully choreographed challenges mirror the disembodied world technology has built. By Andrew Kay in @Harpers.

@patrickmokre @CriticalDev This essay is featured in this week's edition of the Best of Political Economy:

Nievas and Piketty’s recent paper offers a mapping of global trade imbalances. But they stop short of confronting capitalism as a system, instead framing inequality as distortions rather than structural features. By @patrickmokre et al. in @CriticalDev.

@Isabel_Estevez_ This document can be found in this week's edition of the Best of Political Economy:

Industrial policy is back in vogue as a tool for the "green transition." This working paper argues for an "eco-humanist" approach that tackles root crises by reshaping production systems to meet human needs equitably. By @Isabel_Estevez_ et al.