In this special episode, hosts Kate Wolf, Medaya Ocher, and Eric Newman discuss how Big Tech dreams – from iPhones to social media to AI – have become nightmares. How did these decade-defining innovations end up making modern life feel sadder, lonelier, and scarier? And what, if anything, can we do about it? Using two recent books — Cory Doctorow's "Ensh*ttification" and Paul Kingsnorth's "Against the Machine" — as reference points, the hosts discuss labor practices, government regulation, the place of spirituality and religion, cottagecore fantasies, and how they personally navigate unplugging from the machine.
All content for LA Review of Books is the property of LA Review of Books and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
In this special episode, hosts Kate Wolf, Medaya Ocher, and Eric Newman discuss how Big Tech dreams – from iPhones to social media to AI – have become nightmares. How did these decade-defining innovations end up making modern life feel sadder, lonelier, and scarier? And what, if anything, can we do about it? Using two recent books — Cory Doctorow's "Ensh*ttification" and Paul Kingsnorth's "Against the Machine" — as reference points, the hosts discuss labor practices, government regulation, the place of spirituality and religion, cottagecore fantasies, and how they personally navigate unplugging from the machine.
Where Have All the Cowboys Gone: Are Literary Men in Crisis?
LA Review of Books
1 hour 5 minutes
1 month ago
Where Have All the Cowboys Gone: Are Literary Men in Crisis?
In this special episode, hosts Medaya Ocher, Kate Wolf, and Eric Newman discuss the "crisis" du jour in American publishing: the erosion of male literary stars and their readers across the landscape of contemporary fiction. Is this even happening—and if so, why? Tackling cultural anxieties about the waning centrality of the straight, white male author alongside spurious statistics and questions about the material realities of publishing in the 21st century, the hosts break down the forces they see lurking behind the discourse.
Links:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/opinion/men-fiction-novels.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/style/fiction-books-men-reading.html
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/against-high-brodernism/
https://www.vox.com/culture/392971/men-reading-fiction-statistics-fact-checked
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n16/emily-witt/do-you-feel-like-a-failure
https://theconversation.com/a-new-publisher-will-focus-on-books-by-men-are-male-writers-and-readers-under-threat-255874
https://defector.com/the-plight-of-the-white-male-novelist
LA Review of Books
In this special episode, hosts Kate Wolf, Medaya Ocher, and Eric Newman discuss how Big Tech dreams – from iPhones to social media to AI – have become nightmares. How did these decade-defining innovations end up making modern life feel sadder, lonelier, and scarier? And what, if anything, can we do about it? Using two recent books — Cory Doctorow's "Ensh*ttification" and Paul Kingsnorth's "Against the Machine" — as reference points, the hosts discuss labor practices, government regulation, the place of spirituality and religion, cottagecore fantasies, and how they personally navigate unplugging from the machine.
