This goes some way to explaining the surprising Western enthusiasm, in the decade since “Gangnam Style,” for not just Korean popular culture but Korean popular culture that attacks its own society. - The New Yorker
For example, participants who read their options and made a selection on paper were significantly more likely to give money to charity, choose a healthy entrée, and opt for an educational book rather than something more entertaining. - Harvard Business Review
What makes the story so tragic, and the comic-television moment so illustrative of his nature, is that Salman, to those who knew him—no, know him—as a friend, was the most amiable of men, the least narrowly contentious, the most rational and reasonable guy they would ever meet. - The New Yorker
The fatwa threatened not only Rushdie and those associated with The Satanic Verses, but freedom of expression more broadly. If Khomeini and the government of Iran could suppress a book, what was to stop repressive regimes in different parts of the world from blocking more publications that offended them? - The New Republic
We accumulate what the philosopher Ruth Garrett Millikan calls “dead facts” — knowledge about the world that is useless for daily living, like the distance to the moon, or what happened in the latest episode of “Succession.” - The New York Times
Posmysz, who as a student worked with others in the Polish resistance to the Nazis, later "gained acclaim for her works on the Holocaust as a journalist, novelist, playwright and screenwriter." - The New York Times
There's so much backlash to Joan of Arc using they/them in a new production at the Globe that the artistic director had to release a statement: "Shakespeare was not afraid to ask difficult questions. ... Shakespeare was not afraid of discomfort, and neither is the Globe." - What's On Stage (UK)
"People might tell you that you’re the odd one out. Remember you’re not, you too are the mainstream. The world might try to make differences a pejorative thing, but I’ve carved out a whole career by celebrating it." - The Guardian (UK)
Why? "Having a romance-only bookstore, says, has helped fans feel a little better about their passion for these stories. Readers tell Pool how grateful they are that Happily Ever After exists, since they’ve often suffered from the romance-novel stigma." - Toronto Star
"Documentarian Ken Burns has called the institution an embodiment of the 'pursuit of happiness.' 'Happiness with a capital ‘H’ is about lifelong learning and the improvement of the brain, the heart, the body and the soul throughout one’s lifetime,'" he said. - Washington Post
"The August Wilson House is not a museum. Instead, the restored space is a community center that will offer artist residencies, gathering spaces, fellowships and other programming for up-and-coming artists and scholars. There is also an outdoor stage." - The New York Times
The venue said that on the first night of Jerry Sadowitz's performance, many walked out and the venue "became immediately aware of content that was considered, among other things, extreme in its racism, sexism, homophobia and misogyny." - BBC
Her career started with a book that was originally aimed as pornography for bored housewives. But "when ultimately published, Riverfinger Women 'was the first book that was advertised in The New York Times that was identified as a lesbian book.'" - The New York Times
Those who buy the churches, for housing or co-working spaces or workshops or galleries, sometimes find it hard to get work done as all of the locals stop by to talk about history. - The Guardian (UK)
