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David Masciotra is the author of five books, including I Am Somebody: Why Jesse Jackson Matters (Bloomsbury, 2020) and Mellencamp: American Troubadour (University Press of Kentucky, 2015). He has written about politics, music, and literature for many publications, including Salon, the Progressive, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. He teaches at Indiana University Northwest.

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opinion

Biden, Top Dems Need to Throw Some Punches for LGBTQ Rights

GET MAD

Anti-LGBTQ legislation and violence are on the rise. It’s time for “allies” in government to get tough on the bigots and protect the vulnerable.

David Masciotra | Published Jun 23, 2022
opinion

The Plot to Kill Whitmer Shows How Far the Right Has Fallen

DRY RUN

This wasn’t drunk talk. It was a serious, scary plan—and a sign of what’s to come.

David Masciotra | Published Apr 08, 2022

President? Unlikely. Pulitzer? Maybe

Politics and Prose

Decorated Marine, Cabinet official, U.S. Senator, and now presidential candidate, James Webb has somehow found the time to write books, and they say a lot about him.

David Masciotra | Published Oct 10, 2015

The Pain and Rage of Mellencamp’s Music

LISTEN

John Cougar Mellencamp took his own struggles and made them into music relevant to everybody.

David Masciotra | Published Sep 05, 2015

Cornel West’s Disappointing Decline

Glib

Once one of the nation’s best cultural critics, West has ditched his intellectual chops and embraced the role of public personality recycling the same sound bites.

David Masciotra | Published Oct 23, 2014

Noam Chomsky—Infuriating and Necessary

You don’t have to buy Chomsky’s ideas wholesale to recognize that his often outrageous critiques of American democracy and capitalism usually hit their targets.

David Masciotra | Published Sep 28, 2014

Is ‘Satisfaction’ Too Real About Sex?

Adult Situations

What happens after ‘happily ever after’? Here’s a Buddhist-inspired show that looks at lust honestly, questions marriage, and explores the emptiness at the heart of our lives.

David Masciotra | Published Sep 18, 2014

Not Country or Pop. Just Garth Brooks.

Rebirth

Fourteen years after leaving the stage and studio, he’s back. And this time, the guy who ‘eats too much, is lazy, and loves to play music’ is taking his fight to the machines.

David Masciotra | Published Sep 10, 2014

The Unsung Heroism of Jesse Jackson

KEEP HOPE ALIVE

The civil rights leader has had a rough decade, but his campaigns for president paved the way for Barack Obama and brought about a better, more inclusive America.

David Masciotra | Published Sep 07, 2014

How We Got to Ferguson—a Reading List

Syllabus

Rage, despair, and confusion trail in the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown. Here’s a reading list that exposes the deep roots in U.S. history that produces such tragedy.

David Masciotra | Published Aug 23, 2014

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