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

Another Modest Proposal

 Since all of you know Swift’s A Modest Proposal, since in fact you were raised on the essay, I need say no more about it. It is part of the education (or maybe was part of it, since I haven’t been to high school for 50 years, and I don’t know — wait for it […]

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by robertappelbaum

To Begin With …

If you’re a cigarette-smoker, you have to make time for it. Years ago smoking was integral to everyday life; you smoked at home, you smoked at the office, you smoked in restaurants and bars and even in shops. Guests on the Tonight Show smoked cigarettes while being interviewed by Johnny Carson. Some people smoked while […]

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by robertappelbaum

Trump, Decency, and Democracy

It has been quite a ride for this American expatriate. Settled in Europe, married to a European, and now a citizen of Sweden as well as the US, I was trying to make Europe the focus of my attention, and even my allegiance, but the election of Donald Trump changed all that. I became addicted […]

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