2016: Understanding the nightmare

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There’s a wealth of material here. If you can, read her book too

Sarah Kendzior

A selection of my articles on the hellscape that was 2016, divided by topic. Full list available here. If you want an understanding of how we got into this mess, try my book on the conditions leading up to the election, “The View From Flyover Country”

Thank you to the Globe and Mail, De Correspondent, Quartz, The Guardian, Foreign Policy and the many other outlets who support my work. Thanks most of all to my readers! Normally after a year like this I would say next year is bound to be better, but…

Anyway. Here we are.

Trump

Donald Trump’s shakedown of the American Dream (12/4/16)
We’re heading into dark times. This is how to be your own light in the age of Trump (11/18/16)
Our fate was sealed long before November 8 (and not because the election’s rigged) (11/3/16)
A fascist’s win, America’s moral loss (11/9/16)
Trump’s strategy:…

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Disillusioned Thinking

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I like the way Nikita builds up her authorial neo-modernist pov

Nikita

A great story, according to me, is the kind of story, which should destroy the readers mind by the end of the story. A novel whose cover displays a small boy with his hands in his pockets, walking away unhappily, is a novel, which will be about the disappointments and failures of the small unfortunate boy. Never in your dreams, will you imagine, that the novel will in turn transform you into an unfortunate character who has no control over his/her emotions.

The teacher in my creative writing class read few lines from this novel. After reading the lines, she asked, “So what do you think about the novel?” I was already making plans of getting the novel by then. That day I went home at 3:00 p.m. and without changing my clothes or checking my phone or eating any snacks, I searched for a PDF version of the novel…

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American political dysfunction: a guide for Europeans

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Very clear introduction to several of the issues connected with t
his crucial event with almost equally inappropriate contenders in different ways

Sarah Kendzior

Happy to announce I’m going to be covering the US election and other social and political issues for De Correspondent, a Dutch news outlet that broke a record in crowdfunding when it launched as an initiative to support independent journalism. Prior to returning to journalism, I was an anthropologist studying political dictatorships in Central Asia and explaining them to American audiences. Now, thanks to Donald Trump, I am explaining American authoritarianism to Europeans.

My introductory piece covers the economic and political crises that led us into our current chaos, with a focus on what the last eight years have done to the American heartland. My second piece is on the long history of police brutality against black Americans, touching on Ferguson and the recent state-sanctioned murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. An excerpt:

In the aftermath of the police shootings of black citizens, prominent Americans call for a “conversation…

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