Weekend Reading

Dec 06, 2024

The specter of Winston Churchill by David Reynolds
- “Flushed with his triumph, Churchill swept out of the chamber and into an anteroom where a stiff brandy and a Havana cigar awaited, together with young Karsh. Nobody had mentioned the photo, but Churchill did consent to just one shot. He stood there, wreathed in smoke, ignoring Karsh’s polite requests to stop puffing, just for a moment. So, the photographer suddenly leaned forward, grabbed the cigar from his jaw and clicked the shutter. “He looked so belligerent, he could have devoured me,” Karsh recalled later. That picture made the young man’s name. It also would also define Churchill’s image…”
My Smartphone Was Ruining My Life. So, I Quit by August Lamm
- “I set down my phone. In an attempt to get more tears flowing, I thought about my circumstances: single, alone in a foreign country, recently diagnosed with a degenerative spinal condition. I was renting a cramped yet expensive apartment and quickly running through my savings. I had built a whole career as an art influencer but, since my diagnosis, I could no longer produce the drawings required to keep my online audience engaged—the pain made it so that I could hardly write my own signature, let alone draw. As I considered all this, I began to cry again. I reached for my phone and this time; I got the shot…”

How Tech Billionaires Became the G.O.P.’s New Donor Class by Jonathan Mahler Ryan Mac and Theodore Schleifer
- “For much of his career, Musk gave modestly to candidates of both parties. He was drawn to President Barack Obama, making several visits to meet with him in the Oval Office and inviting him to Cape Canaveral to see SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. But he didn’t really like spending time with politicians, and never aspired to be a political power broker, at least in the traditional sense. His business empire spanned the globe, and administrations everywhere came and went. He seemed to view himself as being bigger than any party…”

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