David Masciotra

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.

GET MAD

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

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

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DRY RUN

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

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

David Masciotra

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Politics and Prose

President? Unlikely. Pulitzer? Maybe

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

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LISTEN

The Pain and Rage of Mellencamp’s Music

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

David Masciotra

Glib

Cornel West’s Disappointing Decline

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

David Masciotra

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

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

President? Unlikely. Pulitzer? Maybe

The Pain and Rage of Mellencamp’s Music

Cornel West’s Disappointing Decline

Noam Chomsky—Infuriating and Necessary

Is ‘Satisfaction’ Too Real About Sex?

Not Country or Pop. Just Garth Brooks.

The Unsung Heroism of Jesse Jackson

How We Got to Ferguson—a Reading List