About Benj Demott

Eugene Goodheart’s analysis of the Syrian quandary doesn’t take in the story’s latest twists, but it comprehends the president’s humane, cautious approach to the issue. Goodheart’s piece amounts to an addendum to the case he makes in his new book, Holding the Center: In Defense of Political Trimming, which places Obama’s default stance within a … Read more

In London, England a young black man called Stephen Lawrence is walking home with his friend when they are set upon by a gang of white youths in a racist attack which leaves Stephen dead. His mother works tirelessly for 20 years pushing the police to pursue the killers and make sure the guilty parties … Read more

Yesterday’s Papers An elderly friend of mine—a white southern liberal—once told me a tale that helped me grasp how far his kind traveled in the 60s. He came from a close-knit military family and he’s never doubted his father was one of the wisest—and bravest—of men. Yet one day, as my friend was reading a … Read more

It’s 1973, I am 15 years old and yearning to live in Flatbush. It’s a better neighbourhood than where I am and I think to myself I bet the landlords there make sure that the boiler works in the winter. I earn $40 a month for sweeping and mopping the floors and stairs of the … Read more

On my last visit to Cairo in March, I was hit by a post-revolutionary reality when I arrived at the airport. The planes coming from Europe are much smaller now, as if proving the country’s stature has somehow diminished. I was through passport control in under five minutes, an unheard phenomenon in the past. I’m … Read more

What follows is a compaction of an interview with Dror Moreh, director of the Israeli documentary, The Gatekeepers. The full text is available at Director Talk website: In The Gatekeepers, Dror Moreh speaks with former directors of Israel’s secret service, the Shin Bet, about Israel’s war on terror, Rabin’s murder, targeted assassinations, and the Jewish … Read more

The “Cool Britannia” of the noughties has now become Cruel Britannia – a country ruled by a coalition of parties, one as bad as the other for dividing its population into “skivers” and “strivers.” We are not all mooning over a new royal due to be born in the summer. We are at each others’ … Read more