Public Books is an online magazine of ideas, arts, and scholarship. www.publicbooks.orghttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlynjrgfbf2b“Vitriol is an engine of MAGA. Chaos is a consequence.” https://www.publicbooks.org/republicans-debate-amnesty/16 May 2026 20:07 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlynjrgfbf2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlykxhcfwv2u“IRCA produced a legalization system organized around a narrow, male-coded vision of the immigrant worker.” When immigration law favors men with long work histories, what happens to the women and children left behind? https://www.publicbooks.org/fascisms-building-blocks-30-years-of-destroying-families/16 May 2026 19:21 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlykxhcfwv2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlyhgslchc2xNew at PB: A. Naomi Paik & Catherine S. Ramírez convene a series on the roots of America’s emergent fascism—a label they don’t take lightly. https://www.publicbooks.org/fascisms-building-blocks-a-us-infrastructure-decades-in-the-making/16 May 2026 18:18 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlyhgslchc2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mly7z532gk2s“Today, again, radicalized white nationalism is being weaponized into fascist movements, with the goal of smashing working-class struggle and left-wing movements that challenge the absolute rule of capital over workers.” https://www.publicbooks.org/fascisms-building-blocks-100-years-of-murdering-migrant-workers/16 May 2026 16:05 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mly7z532gk2shttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlxxms3vnj2x“My second book was a really emotionally difficult book. And so I had a lot of fun with the characters in this [third] book.” Xochitl Gonzalez talks with @geraldo-cadava.bsky.social about “Last Night in Brooklyn,” out now from @flatironbooks.bsky.social! https://www.publicbooks.org/xochitl-gonzalez-on-last-night-in-brooklyn/16 May 2026 13:35 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlxxms3vnj2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlw2iliol72uDemocrats campaigned on immigration legalization in 2006 won both houses. Then, writes Justin Akers Chacón, “they took up the anti-immigration mantle and proceeded to increase funding for ICE … and expand detention and the deportation machine.” https://www.publicbooks.org/fascisms-building-blocks-100-years-of-murdering-migrant-workers/15 May 2026 19:21 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlw2iliol72uhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlvwxwa5su2m“How is all this ‘unprecedented’ devastation even possible? The answer is in the infrastructures of fascism that the United States has been building for decades.” https://www.publicbooks.org/fascisms-building-blocks-a-us-infrastructure-decades-in-the-making/15 May 2026 18:18 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlvwxwa5su2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlvpk5zeil2e“What would the Great Gatsby be like if it was told from a woman's point of view & you swapped out the genders? What era was the last time that things felt optimistic?” Xochitl Gonzalez discusses her new novel, "Last Night in Brooklyn,” set in 2007 Brooklyn. https://www.publicbooks.org/xochitl-gonzalez-on-last-night-in-brooklyn/15 May 2026 16:05 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlvpk5zeil2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlvo4l3giw2jFor our series Fascism's Building Blocks, Rahim Kurwa (@rahimk.bsky.social) argues that “secure and dignified welfare programs enhance people’s ability to act as citizens, but precarious and repressively run programs degrade that citizenship.” https://www.publicbooks.org/fascisms-building-blocks-30-years-of-breaking-welfare/15 May 2026 15:39 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlvo4l3giw2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlvmcesxqw2z“With its cacophony and color, ‘Republicans Debate Amnesty’ evokes that vitriol and chaos.” New at PB: Catherine S. Ramírez discusses an illustration by Alberto Ledesma for our series Fascism’s Building Blocks. https://www.publicbooks.org/republicans-debate-amnesty/15 May 2026 15:07 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlvmcesxqw2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlvh5xl2to2jThe Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 is often remembered as the “amnesty bill.” In reality, writes Mariela Olivares, it’s “a keystone in the foundation of oppressive law and policy targeting immigrants.” https://www.publicbooks.org/fascisms-building-blocks-30-years-of-destroying-families/15 May 2026 13:35 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlvh5xl2to2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mltmlvduys2vAlberto Ledesma on “Republicans Debate Amnesty”: “What I am meaning to evoke are the hypocritical slogans & policies that Republicans/white Christian Nationalists deploy … to manipulate the American population by strategically scapegoating immigrants.” https://www.publicbooks.org/republicans-debate-amnesty/14 May 2026 20:07 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mltmlvduys2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mltjzmvhez2x“IRCA produced a legalization system organized around a narrow, male-coded vision of the immigrant worker. And in so doing, even this “generous” bill left wives, partners, and children outside its protection.” https://www.publicbooks.org/fascisms-building-blocks-30-years-of-destroying-families/14 May 2026 19:21 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mltjzmvhez2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mltgj45kis2u“Whenever I leave & I go to Latin America or I go to visit friends in Africa, we just hang out. You go from meeting for coffee to having dinner to going to a nightclub. That was what Brooklyn was like.” New at PB: Xochitl Gonzalez on the way Brooklyn used to be. https://www.publicbooks.org/xochitl-gonzalez-on-last-night-in-brooklyn/14 May 2026 18:18 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mltgj45kis2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mltd6twpet2uNew at PB: In a new installment in our series Fascism’s Building Blocks, Catherine S. Ramírez introduces “Republicans Debate Amnesty,” an illustration by Alberto Ledesma. https://www.publicbooks.org/republicans-debate-amnesty/14 May 2026 17:18 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mltd6twpet2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlt77fb2lq2j“We bear witness to an entire world struggling under the weight of US misconceptions, delusions, economic domination, and widespread violence.” New at PB: How the US built the fascism of today. https://www.publicbooks.org/fascisms-building-blocks-a-us-infrastructure-decades-in-the-making/14 May 2026 16:07 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlt77fb2lq2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlswp3fbho2e“Anti-immigrant racism leads fascism’s resurgence in the US.” https://www.publicbooks.org/fascisms-building-blocks-100-years-of-murdering-migrant-workers/14 May 2026 13:35 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlswp3fbho2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlrfjfdtox2u“His wife, who was struggling to breastfeed the baby, stayed home and waited for him to return. Instead, masked and unidentified men seized him on the street on his way to the store, forced him into an unmarked vehicle, and drove away.” https://www.publicbooks.org/fascisms-building-blocks-30-years-of-destroying-families/13 May 2026 22:55 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlrfjfdtox2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlr44xmwty2x“I don't pretend that [Brooklyn] is the place that it was that I grew up in, or even the version of the place that it was when I was in my 20s.” https://www.publicbooks.org/xochitl-gonzalez-on-last-night-in-brooklyn/13 May 2026 20:07 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlr44xmwty2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlqzkpuhqh2vIn today’s installment of our series Fascism’s Building Blocks, Justin Akers Chacón looks at a new alliance, long in the making, of “big capitalists operating through the state against immigrant-led worker movements, partnering with fascist movements.” https://www.publicbooks.org/fascisms-building-blocks-100-years-of-murdering-migrant-workers/13 May 2026 19:21 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlqzkpuhqh2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlqw24dxdb2u“Immigration constitutes a leading edge of fascism today: because it has become such a sharply honed weapon for dividing ‘us’ and ‘them.’” https://www.publicbooks.org/fascisms-building-blocks-a-us-infrastructure-decades-in-the-making/13 May 2026 18:18 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlqw24dxdb2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlqn3izayr25In the next installment of our series Fascism's Building Blocks, commissioned by @naomipaik.bsky.social & Catherine S. Ramírez, Mariela Olivares looks at the lifelong trauma of the migrant family separation crisis—and the deliberate laws that brought us here. https://www.publicbooks.org/fascisms-building-blocks-30-years-of-destroying-families/13 May 2026 15:37 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlqn3izayr25https://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlqmbvfbtm2hFor Writing Latinos, @geraldo-cadava.bsky.social talks with Xochitl Gonzalez about "Last Night in Brooklyn," the changes to Fort Greene, & the Great Gatsby if it were from the POV of a woman. “Last Night in Brooklyn" is out now from @flatironbooks.bsky.social! https://www.publicbooks.org/xochitl-gonzalez-on-last-night-in-brooklyn/13 May 2026 15:23 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlqmbvfbtm2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlqga5abbk2b“For a writer, Johannesburg is a very changeable city. It's been through massive changes in the 50 odd years that I've lived here. That's a challenging situation for a writer because your materials are changing as you're working with them.” https://www.publicbooks.org/place-presents-itself-to-you-in-fragments-ivan-vladislavic-and-jeanne-marie-jackson/13 May 2026 13:35 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlqga5abbk2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlov2hcugm2e“Jamie Lloyd does not coddle us with the escape of the red curtain. His dramaturgy welcomes controversy—invites us all into the theater, whether or not one has a ticket.” https://www.publicbooks.org/reviving-evita/12 May 2026 22:55 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlov2hcugm2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlolo2lckc2g“Today’s anti-immigration-activated fascist movement recapitulates elements of the past but is also taking on new forms and dimensions.” https://www.publicbooks.org/fascisms-building-blocks-100-years-of-murdering-migrant-workers/12 May 2026 20:07 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlolo2lckc2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mloj3vaqbh2xIn Jamie Lloyd’s 2025 “Evita,” Rachel Zegler left the theater to perform her iconic ballad on the balcony of the London Palladium. Inside, the production wouldn't let the theatergoer forget the truth about Peronism. https://www.publicbooks.org/reviving-evita/12 May 2026 19:21 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mloj3vaqbh2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlo66c444v2v“What precedes the unprecedented?” New at PB: @naomipaik.bsky.social & Catherine S. Ramírez introduce their series Fascism’s Building Blocks: A US Infrastructure Decades in the Making. https://www.publicbooks.org/fascisms-building-blocks-a-us-infrastructure-decades-in-the-making/12 May 2026 16:05 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlo66c444v2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlo4dpczmz2zIn the next installment of our series Fascism's Building Blocks, Justin Akers Chacón looks at the long tradition of anti-immigrant violence perpetrated by a “partnership of the capitalist class, the state, and activated middle-class fascists.” https://www.publicbooks.org/fascisms-building-blocks-100-years-of-murdering-migrant-workers/12 May 2026 15:32 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlo4dpczmz2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/publicbooks.bsky.social/post/3mlnvrampjb2g“Rather than striving to recreate a historical moment, the set of the 2025 revival reimagines the media forms in which Evita was first represented to the Argentinian people, and eventually, the world beyond.” https://www.publicbooks.org/reviving-evita/12 May 2026 13:35 +0000at://did:plc:vdfpnbcdvsd5veibtdpvceiw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlnvrampjb2g