You’re listening to What Rough Beast!

We are Virginia Heffernan and Stephen Metcalf, and today we’re talking with Nicholas Dames, a Columbia professor and editor-in-chief of Public Books. In this episode, we talk about:

* The importance of political imagination in building community beyond our immediate circles of concern

* How George Eliot's "Middlemarch" offers a model for empathetic action even during challenging times

* The tension between stoicism and engagement as responses to political upheaval

* How today's college students face unique anxieties about their futures and limited options

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