The Ideas Letter

#39

Bernard E. Harcourt and Dylan Riley are two of today’s foremost social theorists, Harcourt at Columbia and Riley at Berkeley. We are privileged, in our Issue 39, to feature their essays, which respectively endeavor to develop a new framework and a new conceptual vocabulary to apprehend our dismal moment.  

Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins is a rising star in the world of intellectual history. In our interview, I was eager to get purchase on how the ongoing renaissance in intellectual history has influenced public debate, and whether this has benefited the reading public outside of the academy.  

In our curated section, we lead with an interview with the incomparable Albie Sachs, the South African freedom fighter and former Constitutional Court judge. His biography establishes him as an archetype of moral courage. We then continue with another South African story, this one a dissection into the oft-forgotten radical wing of the long struggle (one wonders what Sachs would have said about the historical revisionism). Finally, we feature a riveting podcast on the esteemed British psychoanalyst D.W. Winnicott, which covers considerable territory about many of your favorite analysts… and analysands! 

Our musical selection for Ideas Letter 39 is from the tenor genius Albert Ayler and his stentorian, rip-roaringly aggressive, and beautiful version of the Gershwin classic “Summertime.” It’s from 1963 and was recorded in Copenhagen, a city that like Paris many American jazz musicians gravitated to fleeing racism and seeking cultural acceptance. 

—Leonard Benardo, senior vice president at the Open Society Foundations

A Modern Counterrevolution Bernard E. Harcourt The Ideas Letter Essay

The Trump II administration’s onslaught of executive orders and emergency declarations, and its effort to expand presidential power, is both extraordinary and in the lineage of U.S.

Continue Reading → #39 The Wealth of Theory
#39

May 1, 2025

The Wealth of Theory

Featured Essays

What is The Ideas Letter

Welcome to The Ideas Letter, a publication that prizes the unconventional. We are not in the business of persuading. We won’t try to convince you of anything—other than that the world is complex and reality ever-shifting. We are not here to advocate. What you will find, and we hope embrace, are contributions from across ideological aisles, from a broad range of disciplines and a true cross-section of thinking. If catholicity is your métier, and you are uneasy with banging the drum but would rather hear its many sounds, this is the place for you.

We really like critique. Not the mean-spirited or spiteful kind, but rather commentary that raises tough questions, unpacks assumptions, sometimes calls people on the carpet, and always provides opportunity for discussion. That is what we are really after—facilitating, augmenting, furthering, and bolstering debate around issues of consequence.

You’ll find here articles, essays, and criticism that will challenge you to think. Let us know your thoughts, and make sure to tell a friend. Or even someone with whom you disagree!