Banner image: Bruce Haley

A detail from a picture in Bruce Haley‘s “Timber Industry” project, shot in Oregon in 1999. Haley is a former Army paratrooper and S.W.A.T. team member who became a dedicated and extremely successful war photographer, capturing images of conflict in places like Afghanistan, Somalia, Northern Ireland, and Croatia, and winning the prestigious Robert Capa Gold [...]

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The Uses of Nostalgia

Robert Crumb’s nostalgia for that old time music.   Nostalgia is a suspect emotion, both psychologically and politically. Emotionally, nostalgia carries connotations of escapism, ignoring present realities while longing for a mythical past. Politically, nostalgia has often been used by conservative and Fascist leaders who have deployed images of the good old days in order [...]

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A Critic of Liberal Imperialism

Peter Gowan, a Professor of International Relations at  London Metropolitan University who died earlier this month, was a clear-eyed critic of imperialism in all its forms.  As Misha Glenny noted in an obituary in The Guardian Gowan will be particularly remembered as the co-founder (with his wife Halya Kowalsky) of “the highly influential journal Labour Focus on [...]

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Listen to Metcalf

John Metcalf. As I often note, we at Sans Everything are nothing if not eclectic in our passions: animal rights, free trade, and anti-imperialism are all causes taken up by the blog. But there is one particular flag that unites us (or at least most of us): John Metcalf, the extraordinary Canadian writer and editor. [...]

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Cleopatra’s Dessert and Shark Fin Soup

            At a Brussels nuclear law conference in 2007, I gave a technical paper on intergenerational issues in nuclear waste economics. I argued for the prudence of applying a conservative discount rate when setting aside funds for future nuclear waste management so as to guard against contingencies. Recently I had the chance to look at [...]

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Tennis Vagabond: a story of tennis, evil and everything else

            Sans Everything depends not only on its writers, but also its readers. Given the huge difference between daily site visits and replies to our posts it is clear that the vast majority of visitors to the site are content to read quietly, which is perfectly fine with us. We are also [...]

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Foreign Workers in Japan: Please Close the Door When You Leave

  A recent episode of National Public Radio’s All Things Considered discusses Japan’s (mis)treatment of foreign workers; my Japan book co-author, Jean-Pierre Lehmann, is interviewed just after five minutes into the seven minute program. It’s also worth listening for the politician Taro Kono’s candid comments about 3:28 into the interview.   A recent New York Times article, “Japan Pays Foreign [...]

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The Achievement of Chris Oliveros

Adrian Tomine’s portrait of Chris Oliveros. Drawn and Quarterly, one of the world’s premier comic book publishing companies, celebrated its 20th anniversary this year. For many years D&Q was a one-man operation, run by Chris Oliveros (with assistance from his immediate family). In recent years, the company has gone through a strong growth, overseen by Associate Publisher [...]

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Diggin’ Up Bones**

Thomas Jefferson liked having these around the house. Sophie Pollitt-Cohen writes: This Friday, I was struck by the N.Y. Times article  article “Time Conspires Against the Search for a War’s Fallen.”  This sounded like it would be right in my wheel house, and indeed it was.  “With time running out to crack the case of the [...]

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William F. Buckley’s Iago

Adam Luckey as Iago. Spite, malice, vindictiveness: these are all poison for the soul, but given the right dramatic form they can also be quite entertaining. Of Shakespeare’s incomparably rich array of characters, I’ve always had a fond spot for Iago, the toad-like underling who plotted Othello’s downfall. Petty, full of schemes, quick to offense, [...]

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