In this month’s episode, Alex McHugh interviews Sarah Skwire, Senior Fellow and Director of Communications at Liberty Fund about the importance of studying literature and language, and why social scientists should pay attention to works of fiction and literary history. We got into quite a few interesting topics, including Shakespeare, early modern debates on economics,…

The passing of Gabriel García Márquez last Thursday was a particularly painful moment for anyone in Latin America – or elsewhere – who ever indulged in the sublime pleasure of reading any of the literary master’s works. But for me, the pain of the event was not exclusively due to “Gabo” all of a sudden…

With internal conflict in Russia during World War I and after the October Revolution, Pasternak waxes on corruption and the necessity for market exchange within that moment of state communism.

Tolstoy’s posthumously-published novel Hadji Murad provides a glimpse into how deference to leaders who could punish them made truth-telling and decision-making both difficult and dangerous.

Darian Worden on how creativity fosters freedom, and freedom promotes creativity.