Matt Seaton

The British Broadcasting Conundrum

World War II was the BBC’s finest hour, but its history since then reflects the corporation’s gradual loss of primacy in British life.

The Hidden Crime

“When murderers are rehabilitated without admissions of guilt, and history’s rewritten, a new and awful reality occurs.”

Great Powers, High Table

“When I was a full-time academic historian, I never imagined the debate about US foreign policy thrown open to the extent it now is. But the ultimate purpose is to change the policy, not just the debate.”

Declarations of Independence

“I saw how the British Empire could transform decent white people into puffed-up petty tyrants. Even if the Communist insurgents were not the ‘right side,’ I realized I was on the wrong side.”

The Etymology of Terror

For more than 150 years after it was coined, “terrorism” meant violence inflicted by the state on its people. How did the word come to mean the reverse?

In His Father’s Footsteps

“So I continued to visit Jaffa, but I had to rely more on my imagination because the reality was of an entirely different place from what he had described.”

Ten Years After Occupy

“Since then, taking part in protests has felt like the rent I pay for living in this world.”

The Refusal of One Decent Man

“What I have done is to continue in a tradition long hallowed among educated individuals in China by following the dictates of my conscience to speak out against tyranny.”

Advanced Hebrew with an Arabic Accent

“Struggling with the language—hating it, loving it, trying to make room for myself in it while fighting it—became essential to my work. At times, I wonder how writers can write at all in their mother tongues.”

Found in Translation

“For me, there’s my life before I learned French and my life after. Akira Mizubayashi writes that he was born in French at the age of nineteen. I feel similarly.”

Oh, Mood of Alabama

“Most of the red states should probably be purple states but some combination of voter suppression, under-resourcing, and gerrymandering prevents that.”

Beyond Digital Feminism

“When I was a young blogger, stories about motherhood and reproductive rights were often relegated to the style section. Feminist bloggers reshaped mainstream media.”

On a Quest to Know Everything

“We’re living through a moment when the inhuman scale and complexity of the world has been made visible to us, and we are reacting in human ways. Paranoia is understandable, even logical.”

Theater, Politics, and Critic

“The way the personal and the political overlap in certain public lives can be illuminating for both arenas.”

Crossing the ‘Pink Line’

“Globally, the new battleground is over so-called gender ideology. This is defining the next human rights frontier.”

Armed with Arguments

“Today, the NRA is on the defensive, and the gun control movement is stronger. That political fight will more likely determine gun regulation than the Supreme Court.”

The Endless Occupation, a New Understanding

“Today’s reality in Israel-Palestine is at odds with everything the United States claims to stand for.”

The Great Disenchantment

Thanks to this latest, very public family rift, more cracks are appearing in the façade of the United Kingdom’s royalist consensus.

From Wars Abroad, to Peace at Home

“As I’ve grown older, I’m more aware of the psychological risks we must take,” says the conflict-zone reporter. “Writing about my father represented such a psychological risk.”

A Career in Counter-programming

“Every situation is different, but the forms of injustice rhyme,” says the leading Jewish-American journalist.