The DC Salon

Leon Wieseltier and Celeste Marcus discuss the rise of the radical Israeli right and the peculiar pain of responsible loyalty to a state 

Justin E. H. Smith joins Leon Wieseltier and Celeste Marcus to discuss the gamification of reality, and the pernicious compulsion to control and describe more and more of human existence via algorithms and technology.

William Deresiewicz joins Celeste Marcus to discuss his upcoming book "The End of Solitude: Selected Essays on Culture and Society." In this conversation they broach many of the themes which Deresiewicz explores in his book, including the nature of attention, the meaning of art, the purpose of education, and the snares endemic to membership in any community.

Morten Høi Jensen joins Celeste Marcus to discuss literary biography as a failed genre, the impossibility of a writer ever achieving intimacy with her own subjects, and the license that futility conditions. 

Leon Wieseltier and Celeste Marcus discuss  La Ruche, Soutine, the romantic, fleeting world of the School of Paris, and its brutal destruction during WWII.

Laura Kipnis joins Celeste Marcus to discuss Laura's most recent essay for Liberties, "Gender: A Melee," in which she debunks the bad faith arguments and fear mongering which frequently plague conversations about gender. 

Richard Thompson Ford joins Leon Wieseltier to discuss what the legacy of slavery can and cannot explain about America.

Martha Nussbaum joins Leon Wieseltier for a conversation about the relationship between the body and the soul. 

Agnes Callard and Becca Rothfeld join Celeste Marcus to discuss the movie The Night Porter.

Leon Wieseltier and Celeste Marcus discuss the many dimensions of the horror in Ukraine. “If you want to deter such obscenities, and if you want to be able to resist such obscenities then you need to have a world view that will prepare you for such obscenities to occur.”