What We’re Reading

Preeti Aroon "Why It Was Called ‘Water Torture’," by Richard E. Mezo in the Washington Post. An argument against waterboarding, written by an American who actually experienced it. Caitlin Wall The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008. Mark Halperin and John F. Harris look at the state of modern American politics and ...

Preeti Aroon

Preeti Aroon

Caitlin Wall

  • The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008. Mark Halperin and John F. Harris look at the state of modern American politics and attempt to write a sort of handbook for the secrets of the trade. Political strategy trumps all in this less-than-inspiring, if timely read.

Christine Chen

  • The In Septembers of Shiraz. First-time novelist Dalia Sofer, whose own family escaped from Iran in 1982, tells the tale of Isaac Amin, a gem trader who is imprisoned and tortured by Revolutionary Guards for being Jewish. During his incarceration, his wife Farnaz tries to keep the family together while his young daughter is befriended by the daughter of the man who runs the prison where he’s being held. Meanwhile, his secular son is far away in Brooklyn, falling in love with the daughter of his Hasidic landlord.

Blake Hounshell

Mike Boyer

  • Mitt Romney: Not in His Father’s Footsteps,” Rick Perlstein in Sunday’s Los Angeles Times. Romney “will go down as the most robotic big-ticket presidential candidate in history,” because his father taught him that authenticity kills.

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Newspapers in Tehran feature on their front page news about the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, signed in Beijing the previous day, on March, 11 2023.
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An Iranian man holds a newspaper reporting the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, in Tehran on March 11.
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