Patrick Iber
@patrickiber.bsky.social
Historian. Edit Dissent magazine, providing intellectual resources for an effective democratic left. Culture/politics podcast Experts in a Dying Field. Book: Poverty of the Imagination: The Cold War and the Social Science of Development in Latin America
Pinned
Patrick Iber
@patrickiber.bsky.social
· Apr 1
Your humble servant has a written a book about the social science of poverty in Cold War Latin America and the contexts that shaped its creation, from international sources like the Ford Foundation to dictatorships across the region. The book is in production and will be ready at the end of 2026
"Five intellectuals in close proximity to power can do a lot of damage." Really fascinating @briankgoodman.bsky.social piece on the post-liberal scene (and pseudo-scene) in Hungary www.thedriftmag.com/the-last-day...
The Last Days of the Danube Institute | A Report from Postliberal Budapest
By Brian Goodman. In the wake of Viktor Orbán’s defeat, Budapest’s postliberals face end times.
www.thedriftmag.com
September 16, 2026 at 4:51 PM
"Five intellectuals in close proximity to power can do a lot of damage." Really fascinating @briankgoodman.bsky.social piece on the post-liberal scene (and pseudo-scene) in Hungary www.thedriftmag.com/the-last-day...
I don't want to romanticize the billionaires of the past but I do think it is remarkable how callow many of today's are. Perhaps there is a structural component in that today's are making money through tech rather than managing large enterprises; the latter just takes more time and life experience
September 15, 2026 at 10:19 PM
I don't want to romanticize the billionaires of the past but I do think it is remarkable how callow many of today's are. Perhaps there is a structural component in that today's are making money through tech rather than managing large enterprises; the latter just takes more time and life experience
Reposted by Patrick Iber
In @dissentmag.bsky.social, I look at years of patient organizing around labor and housing that reshaped politics in Providence, feeding into the campaigns that lifted @davidmoralespvd.bsky.social and council allies like Miguel Youngs to victory last week. dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...
The Socialist Wave Hits Rhode Island - Dissent Magazine
The sweep by democratic socialist David Morales and other progressive primary candidates in Providence is a testament to years of organizing and coalition-building in the Ocean State.
dissentmagazine.org
September 14, 2026 at 2:50 PM
In @dissentmag.bsky.social, I look at years of patient organizing around labor and housing that reshaped politics in Providence, feeding into the campaigns that lifted @davidmoralespvd.bsky.social and council allies like Miguel Youngs to victory last week. dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...
Lot of people with more information than I have seem to think we will all be dead within ten years
The people running these companies believe that climate change could kill us all by the end of the decade. This is not a fringe worry. Publicly, many executives soften their language to sound reasonable, but privately, the fear is real. No other industry poses this level of danger to civilization.
September 12, 2026 at 11:23 PM
Lot of people with more information than I have seem to think we will all be dead within ten years
This MetaFilter forum _from September 11, 2001_ is a primary document that makes it very difficult to make the "unity" argument www.metafilter.com/10034/Plane-...
Plane crashes in to the word trade center.
Plane crashes in to the word trade center. Apologies for not linking to anything besides the main CNN page but there are no full stories on this yet. The plane crashed into the building about six...
www.metafilter.com
September 11, 2026 at 6:06 PM
This MetaFilter forum _from September 11, 2001_ is a primary document that makes it very difficult to make the "unity" argument www.metafilter.com/10034/Plane-...
I'm fielding requests from prospective Ph.D. students, and maybe you are too. Over the summer, I wrote this guide for students in History: including 1) don't do it; 2) if you must do it, this is how the process works and how to prepare your application patrickiber.org/2026/06/24/a...
A guide to preparing a Ph.D. application in History
Applying to graduate school is something that likely only happens once in a lifetime, and so almost no one doing it has experience in the process. The goal of this post is to help demystify the pro…
patrickiber.org
September 11, 2026 at 3:42 PM
I'm fielding requests from prospective Ph.D. students, and maybe you are too. Over the summer, I wrote this guide for students in History: including 1) don't do it; 2) if you must do it, this is how the process works and how to prepare your application patrickiber.org/2026/06/24/a...
Reposted by Patrick Iber
If you're lucky, someone will eventually review your book in a way that almost makes you jealous of their insights into the material. It's fair to say that the historian Gabe Winant has just published that review of my book. dissentmagazine.org/article/muti...
The Party of Baristas - Dissent Magazine
Noam Scheiber’s Mutiny shows that the labor organizing of the radicalized PMC is far more than a fit of whimsical proletarian roleplay.
dissentmagazine.org
September 10, 2026 at 2:34 PM
If you're lucky, someone will eventually review your book in a way that almost makes you jealous of their insights into the material. It's fair to say that the historian Gabe Winant has just published that review of my book. dissentmagazine.org/article/muti...
New Kafka just dropped
September 10, 2026 at 3:54 PM
New Kafka just dropped
Reposted by Patrick Iber
If someone says to you "but isn't DSA all professionals and gentrifiers" feel free to just send them this piece by me dissentmagazine.org/article/muti...
The Party of Baristas - Dissent Magazine
Noam Scheiber’s Mutiny shows that the labor organizing of the radicalized PMC is far more than a fit of whimsical proletarian roleplay.
dissentmagazine.org
September 9, 2026 at 5:27 PM
If someone says to you "but isn't DSA all professionals and gentrifiers" feel free to just send them this piece by me dissentmagazine.org/article/muti...
Dissent's fall issue is out today and it is just wall-to-wall bangers. The special section on tech and the left begins with this killer essay by @simontorracinta.bsky.social and the lose-lose situation we face in the US economy dissentmagazine.org/article/arti...
September 8, 2026 at 10:38 PM
Dissent's fall issue is out today and it is just wall-to-wall bangers. The special section on tech and the left begins with this killer essay by @simontorracinta.bsky.social and the lose-lose situation we face in the US economy dissentmagazine.org/article/arti...
Reposted by Patrick Iber
Asparagus Picker — Narsiso Martinez, 2025
ink, charcoal and gouache on strawberry boxes
ink, charcoal and gouache on strawberry boxes
March 15, 2026 at 1:18 PM
Asparagus Picker — Narsiso Martinez, 2025
ink, charcoal and gouache on strawberry boxes
ink, charcoal and gouache on strawberry boxes
Reposted by Patrick Iber
Labor Day was the first national holiday that a social movement both created and persuaded the state and businesses to honor.
A Demonstration of Working-Class Power - Dissent Magazine
Labor Day was the first national holiday that a social movement both created and persuaded the state and businesses to honor.
dissentmagazine.org
September 7, 2026 at 2:01 PM
Labor Day was the first national holiday that a social movement both created and persuaded the state and businesses to honor.
I really loved this book, it’s marketed as a queer book and sure it is that, but straight folks shouldn’t miss out by thinking it’s not for them. It’s a great work of literature
I’m celebrating the 25th anniversary of my debut novel Edinburgh this fall with a new Mariner Classics edition (intro by @garthgreenwell.bsky.social) on Oct. 13th at the Center for Fiction with Brandon Taylor, @mirajacob.bsky.social and @rokwon.bsky.social.
centerforfiction.org/event/edinbu...
centerforfiction.org/event/edinbu...
September 5, 2026 at 1:15 PM
I really loved this book, it’s marketed as a queer book and sure it is that, but straight folks shouldn’t miss out by thinking it’s not for them. It’s a great work of literature
Friends I’m happy to announce that I’m starting a podcast like it’s 2008
September 4, 2026 at 8:41 PM
Friends I’m happy to announce that I’m starting a podcast like it’s 2008
can't believe the Emily Wilson discourse didn't produce a piece called Xenia Warrior Princess
September 4, 2026 at 3:31 PM
can't believe the Emily Wilson discourse didn't produce a piece called Xenia Warrior Princess
You try to talk to one tankie and you get swarmed by a mob calling you a social fascist and extolling the virtues of the glorious USSR, which actually illustrates quite well the problem of why so many people decided they couldn't work in coalitions with them
September 4, 2026 at 2:34 PM
You try to talk to one tankie and you get swarmed by a mob calling you a social fascist and extolling the virtues of the glorious USSR, which actually illustrates quite well the problem of why so many people decided they couldn't work in coalitions with them
Reposted by Patrick Iber
See this helpful thread, which also explains Steinem's unlikely cameo in my book, FREEDOM'S LAB, which dealt with a lot of orgs whose members may or may not have realized they were being bankrolled by the CIA
Today you're going to see a lot of tributes and assessments of Gloria Steinem (I thought this one very good: www.thecut.com/article/glor...). You'll also see some people raising her involvement with the CIA, and others ignore it. (That obit doesn't even mentioned it.) What was that about?
Gloria Steinem Loved Women
The feminist icon, who has died at the age of 92, epitomized the contradictions and hopes of the women’s liberation movement.
www.thecut.com
September 3, 2026 at 6:05 PM
See this helpful thread, which also explains Steinem's unlikely cameo in my book, FREEDOM'S LAB, which dealt with a lot of orgs whose members may or may not have realized they were being bankrolled by the CIA
Today you're going to see a lot of tributes and assessments of Gloria Steinem (I thought this one very good: www.thecut.com/article/glor...). You'll also see some people raising her involvement with the CIA, and others ignore it. (That obit doesn't even mentioned it.) What was that about?
Gloria Steinem Loved Women
The feminist icon, who has died at the age of 92, epitomized the contradictions and hopes of the women’s liberation movement.
www.thecut.com
September 3, 2026 at 5:49 PM
Today you're going to see a lot of tributes and assessments of Gloria Steinem (I thought this one very good: www.thecut.com/article/glor...). You'll also see some people raising her involvement with the CIA, and others ignore it. (That obit doesn't even mentioned it.) What was that about?
My book which is partly about the Ford Foundation is out in November and that is 100% true. Ford had little interest in charity, he wanted a tax sheltered place for shares after he died
Amazing moment. Coinbase's CEO says he doesn't believe in charity because " If you look at like the Ford Foundation, I think Henry Ford would be like turning over in his grave."
September 3, 2026 at 12:40 PM
My book which is partly about the Ford Foundation is out in November and that is 100% true. Ford had little interest in charity, he wanted a tax sheltered place for shares after he died
just got an "invitation" from a Murdoch-owned radio station in which I pay $200 for them to do an interview with me about my forthcoming book, let me think about it for a second: how about no
September 2, 2026 at 4:34 PM
just got an "invitation" from a Murdoch-owned radio station in which I pay $200 for them to do an interview with me about my forthcoming book, let me think about it for a second: how about no
Official issue launch is next week Tuesday, but paper copies are arriving in mailboxes. The special section is on tech and the left. Quite possibly the best issue we've done since I became co-editor, and the closest we've come to my "intellectual resources for an effective democratic left" program
Great issue, especially enjoyed Brian J. Chen on what comes after the data center uprisings.
September 2, 2026 at 4:19 PM
Official issue launch is next week Tuesday, but paper copies are arriving in mailboxes. The special section is on tech and the left. Quite possibly the best issue we've done since I became co-editor, and the closest we've come to my "intellectual resources for an effective democratic left" program
I mean, absolutely not, he has never been on a farm, but I assume this is because he is always calling cities (((DIRTY))), with whatever values he needs to assign to the parentheses at a given moment
Not the main point, but farmers are “CLEAN”? Has this guy ever been on a farm?
Nothing could possibly go wrong.
August 28, 2026 at 4:56 PM
I mean, absolutely not, he has never been on a farm, but I assume this is because he is always calling cities (((DIRTY))), with whatever values he needs to assign to the parentheses at a given moment
I haven't been this impressed by a public figure's unexpected use of a vocabulary word since Shakira used "lycanthropy" in both the English and Spanish versions of her song
Wake up, babe. The Prime Minister just dropped “hydronym”.
August 27, 2026 at 10:26 PM
I haven't been this impressed by a public figure's unexpected use of a vocabulary word since Shakira used "lycanthropy" in both the English and Spanish versions of her song
I really resent it that there is no way to stop the fundraising spam from the Democratic Party with messages that employ the same manipulative techniques as a guy on the subway who needs $47.25 of gas money
August 27, 2026 at 2:44 PM
I really resent it that there is no way to stop the fundraising spam from the Democratic Party with messages that employ the same manipulative techniques as a guy on the subway who needs $47.25 of gas money
The only serious threat to Canadian sovereignty is the United States
Vance: We have to remember, Canada is a state-- sorry, Freudian slip. Canada is a country that would get invaded by a foreign country if it weren't for America
August 24, 2026 at 7:36 PM
The only serious threat to Canadian sovereignty is the United States