Author: robertappelbaum

Senior Professor in Arts and Communication at Malmö University, Sweden, I am a native New Yorker educated at the University of Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley. I am the author of a number of books and articles on literature and culture, especially regarding the early modern period, and a work of creative non-fiction, Working the Aisles: A Life in Consumption (Zero Books). Following up on Terrorism Before the Letter (U of Chicago Press) and The Aesthetics of Violence (Rowman and Littlefield) I am now, supported by the Swedish Research Council, writing a book called the Renaissance Discovery of Violence, From Boccaccio to Shakespeare.

by robertappelbaum

Eve Ensler, Chauncey De Vega and Rape Culture So-called

by Robert Appelbaum Eve Ensler, Chauncey De Vega and “Rape Culture” So-called “Rape culture is both a noun and a verb.” Did you get that? It appears in the introductory remarks to an interview with Eve Ensler, the author most famously of The Vagina Monologues, and now of a book called The Apology, an account […]

by robertappelbaum

Evolution and Politics: A Big Lie in the Washington Post

By Robert Appelbaum In the United States today there is a strong correlation between place of residence and political attitudes. If you are a New Yorker, you are likely to be liberal. New York City voters chose Hillary Clinton by a margin of 60%! That is, 79% of voters in the five boroughs voted […]

by robertappelbaum

In Purgatory, with a Non-Victim

(With apologies to Patti Davis.) On my last trip into the afterlife I found myself in Purgatory, and one of the first people I encountered was an old friend, Harvey. Harvey had been dead for about six years. I was surprised he was in Purgatory because I had always thought of him as a stand-up […]

by robertappelbaum

Impeach the motherfucker!

Impeach the motherfucker! I have worried, like many others, that an impeachment trial would encourage sympathy for the devil. We remember the backlash to Clinton’s impeachment. Though opposition to him tried to paint him as a scoundrel, while congressman went after him as an immoral lowlife, his approval ratings went through the roof. Among other things, […]