Public Books

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Academic criticism for the curious reader. Reviews of new books and arguments across the humanities and social sciences.

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Public Books

Documenting Birthright Citizenship under Chinese Exclusion

Following the Wong Kim Ark decision in 1898, ethnic Chinese, other Asians, and almost all individuals born on U.S. soil secured the right to jus soli birthright citizenship. They could not, however, secure recognition of their citizenship without documentation, the key that linked birth to birthright. At a time when birth registration was not common, […] The post Documenting Birthright Citizenship under Chinese Exclusion appeared first on Public Books.

Morgan BarryJul 9, 2026

Public Books

The Right to Return: Chinese Merchants, the Scott Act, and Legal Knowledge in an Era of Exclusion

“For the first time, customs officials were authorized not only to block newcomers from China but also to turn away long-resident Chinese migrants returning from abroad.” The post The Right to Return: Chinese Merchants, the Scott Act, and Legal Knowledge in an Era of Exclusion appeared first on Public Books.

Morgan BarryJul 8, 2026

Public Books

The Struggle for America’s Ballot Box and the Making of Wong Kim Ark

“While the Supreme Court settled the issue of birthright citizenship in Wong Kim Ark’s case, lawmakers, lawyers, and civil organizations in California (and elsewhere) routinely tried to strip citizenship from the children of Asian immigrants throughout the twentieth century.” The post The Struggle for America’s Ballot Box and the Making of Wong Kim Ark appeared first on Public Books.

Morgan BarryJul 7, 2026

Public Books

The Historical Paths to and from Wong Kim Ark

“The decision in Wong Kim Ark’s case marked the culmination of a three-year legal battle and reflected two decades of sustained efforts to deny citizenship to the U.S.-born children of Chinese immigrants following the Fourteenth Amendment.” The post The Historical Paths to and from Wong Kim Ark appeared first on Public Books.

Morgan BarryJul 6, 2026

Public Books

The Meaning of Alienage for Wong Kim Ark

The Fourteenth Amendment transformed American citizenship in the nineteenth century, but for Chinese immigrants and their American-born children, exclusion persisted. The post The Meaning of Alienage for Wong Kim Ark appeared first on Public Books.

Morgan BarryJul 6, 2026

Public Books

Lineages of the Engineering State: On China, the United States, and the Future

“Perhaps, when we claim that China has exhausted the conceptual resources of the West, what we really mean is that China has exhausted the conceptual resources of American journalists and defense intellectuals in the Washington, DC area.” The post Lineages of the Engineering State: On China, the United States, and the Future appeared first on Public Books.

Morgan BarryJul 2, 2026

Public Books

“We Want You to Leave Home”: Crystal Sanders on Black Southerners and “Segregation Scholarships”

“I began to realize that the state of North Carolina was paying for Black students to go north as a way of preserving segregation. These were what I call ‘segregation scholarships’ to study elsewhere.” The post “We Want You to Leave Home”: Crystal Sanders on Black Southerners and “Segregation Scholarships” appeared first on Public Books.

Imani RadneyJul 1, 2026

Public Books

“These Cycles Are Repeating Themselves”: Lara Norgaard on Indonesian History and Translating Political Fiction

“Even characters with completely benign intentions or mildly selfish intentions end up doing pretty bad things because of the institutional structures around them.” The post “These Cycles Are Repeating Themselves”: Lara Norgaard on Indonesian History and Translating Political Fiction appeared first on Public Books.

Morgan BarryJun 30, 2026

Public Books

The “Emotional Economy” of Parenting: A Conversation with Nina Bandelj

“I am an observer of how intellectual ideas travel and enter into everyday life, or how they come to be performed by families in ways that give those ideas a reality of their own.” The post The “Emotional Economy” of Parenting: A Conversation with Nina Bandelj appeared first on Public Books.

Megan CumminsJun 25, 2026

Public Books

Julián Delgado Lopera on “Pretend You’re Dead and I Carry You”

“I am inhabiting many different identities, sometimes multiple identities, constantly. I feel that I'm definitely building on a legacy of Latin American literature and Latino literature in the United States.” The post Julián Delgado Lopera on “Pretend You’re Dead and I Carry You” appeared first on Public Books.

Megan CumminsJun 24, 2026

Public Books

“Dear Syria … ”

“Here I was, crossing from Lebanon into Syria and from the realm of other peoples’ stories into that of lived experience, including my own.” The post “Dear Syria … ” appeared first on Public Books.

Imani RadneyJun 23, 2026

Public Books

Undoing Platform Humanitarianism

In 2019, the World Food Programme partnered with controversial analytics firm Palantir to develop a logistics management platform (DOTS). Although it drew criticism from privacy activists and donors, the partnership remains active today, suggesting that public and sectoral objections cannot halt such public-private collaborations, even in the humanitarian sector. This is but one example of […] The post Undoing Platform Humanitarianism appeared first on Public Books.

Imani RadneyJun 18, 2026

Public Books

Who Benefits from Distorting American Studies?

“There is a movement undermining, constraining, and eradicating those who document, understand, and name the experiences of systematically marginalized communities in US history.” The post Who Benefits from Distorting American Studies? appeared first on Public Books.

Morgan BarryJun 17, 2026

Public Books

Edward Said, My Grandfather, and the Problem of Home

“Said's ‘Reflections on Exile’ summoned to mind the only 7 words my grandfather ever said to me about Ireland, where he had cousins he never knew: ‘I don’t think I’ll go back there.’” The post Edward Said, My Grandfather, and the Problem of Home appeared first on Public Books.

Morgan BarryJun 16, 2026

Public Books

“Seize the Means of Knowledge Production”: Durba Mitra on Third World Feminists and Their Fight Against Patriarchal Authoritarianism

“I suggest that the building of women’s organizations through cross border collaboration leads to a total transformation of civil society.” The post “Seize the Means of Knowledge Production”: Durba Mitra on Third World Feminists and Their Fight Against Patriarchal Authoritarianism appeared first on Public Books.

Morgan BarryJun 15, 2026

Public Books

Resistance Disguised as a History Lesson: Fascism and the University

Her student—a former Nazi stormtrooper—was proof that no one was lost to the new regime, that every person might choose to refuse. The post Resistance Disguised as a History Lesson: Fascism and the University appeared first on Public Books.

Imani RadneyJun 12, 2026

Public Books

Who Owns Argentine Football?

In early 20th century Buenos Aires, football clubs emerged as institutions of sociability and mutual aid, but also of anarchist resistance, immigrant solidarity, and antifascist organizing. The post Who Owns Argentine Football? appeared first on Public Books.

Morgan BarryJun 11, 2026

Public Books

Ada Ferrer on “Keeper of My Kin: Memoir of an Immigrant Daughter”

“People are buffeted byhistory sometimes in ways that they don't realize. Ourfamily was buffeted by these forces that were much greater than us.” The post Ada Ferrer on “Keeper of My Kin: Memoir of an Immigrant Daughter” appeared first on Public Books.

Megan CumminsJun 10, 2026

Public Books

Rash Reading, Slow Watching with Virginia Woolf and Chantal Akerman

In the hands of this writer and this filmmaker, “the mother” is someone with whom to have a lifelong conversation, a contested perspective through which to read the world. The post Rash Reading, Slow Watching with Virginia Woolf and Chantal Akerman appeared first on Public Books.

Morgan BarryJun 9, 2026

Public Books

To Reach Beyond Ourselves Is Key to Our Survival

“We wanted to make a book that began to answer the questions Muriel Rukeyser asked. We wanted to make a book that continued to ask the questions she asked, of ourselves, of each other.” The post To Reach Beyond Ourselves Is Key to Our Survival appeared first on Public Books.

Megan CumminsJun 5, 2026

Public Books

“A Theory of America”: Mythmaking with Richard Slotkin - Public Books

"I was always working on a theory of America."

Charlotte RosenApr 19, 202422 min read

Public Books

Andrew Boryga on “Victim” - Public Books

“It was definitely in demand, this narrative of explain to me your oppression, you know, explain to me how hard you had it.”

Megan CumminsApr 24, 20242 min read

Public Books

A Translation the Size of the World - Public Books

“Translators and writers must fight through the “labyrinth of [the] imagination,” find their way through their private language toward a text’s new picture of reality.”

Charlotte RosenApr 30, 202411 min read

Public Books

You Write Because You Want to Feel Free: Katie Kitamura and Alexander Manshel - Public Books

“I grew up with this very firm sense that there were multiple places that I could consider a home, rather than homes simply.”

Megan CumminsApr 26, 20242 min read

Public Books

Cecilia Márquez on “Making the Latino South” - Public Books

“Using non-Black as opposed to white is acknowledging that Latinos can be both nonwhite and benefit profoundly from white supremacy.”

Megan CumminsMay 8, 20242 min read

Public Books

What Do the PDFs Say about This?: Brandon Taylor and Stephanie Insley Hershinow - Public Books

“What are the systems of power in this fictional context andthe story world I'm making? What are the stakes? What are the values?”

Megan CumminsMay 10, 20242 min read

Public Books

White Mediocrity Empowers White Villainy: A Conversation with Koritha Mitchell - Public Books

“Not only does whiteness empower folk to destroy entire communities; it empowers them to say to your face that the destruction doesn't have reverberating effects in the current moment.”

Charlotte RosenMay 15, 202422 min read

Public Books

Interpret or Judge?: John Guillory on the Future of Literary Criticism - Public Books

“‘Professing criticism’ is a contradiction and maybe even an impossibility. I’d like to hope that it’s not, that it’s just an innovation, historically.”

Imani RadneyMay 2, 202413 min read

Public Books

It's Not Only Human Stories Worth Telling: Sigrid Nunez's Animal Novels - Public Books

Why are animals so central to Sigrid Nunez’s thinking about the status of fiction?

Charlotte RosenMay 7, 202411 min read

Public Books

B-Sides: George S. Schuyler’s “Black Empire” - Public Books

“Black Empire” ends with an international revolution, led by a heroic Black genius preaching empowerment; it ends with a continental dictator clutching power through unremittent cruelty and cries of racial supremacy. Both statements are true.

Charlotte RosenMay 1, 20246 min read