Better Identity

Identity, Alphabetically

Alfian Sa'at | Sydney Review Of Books | 5th September 2022

Alphabetised autobiography, told from "Adrian" to "Zat", by a writer who grew up as part of the Malay minority in Singapore. His family history is sprinkled with what he calls "Black Magic™" — a weaving together of folklore and anecdote that feels both part of a private, personal lore and an act of "self-orientalism", as if he is "turning totems and talismans into cheap tourist trinkets" (5,418 words)

from The Browser five years ago:

Better Than Ayn Rand

Michael Kinsley | Vanity Fair | 3rd September 2017

On Henry George, an economist who was lionised in the late 19C — "the Thomas Piketty or John Kenneth Galbraith of his time" — but has been forgotten, and deserves better. He made the best short defence of free trade: "You wouldn’t fill your harbour with rocks to keep out goods your citizens want to buy, would you? Well, that’s what you’re doing when you slap tariffs on imports" (1,300 words)