Critical Gaps to Fill:
- PRIMARY SOURCE (20-50 pages) - Currently no period texts at all
- Suggestions: Thucydides’ Funeral Oration, Cicero’s De Officiis, or similar text demonstrating why Western culture matters
- Canon defense - Add intellectual framework for “why this matters”
- Italo Calvino: Why Read the Classics? (title essay), OR
- Harold Bloom: The Western Canon (opening chapter “An Elegy for Canon”)
- Either provides gravitas currently missing from reviews/secondary sources
- Accessible bridges:
- Richard Jenkins: Classical Literature (Pelican Introduction)
- Melissa Lane: Greek and Roman Political Ideas (Pelican Introduction)
- Both “normie” level but solid for connecting ancient to modern relevance
Additions:
- Isaiah Berlin: The Crooked Timber of Humanity - “The Pursuit of the Ideal” essay
- (Could alternatively fit in Week 3 with Open Society materials)
- Elias Canetti: Crowds and Power (selected chapter)
- Pairs excellently with Cummings on bureaucracy
- Martin Gurri: The Revolt of the Public - one chapter on elite dysfunction
- Complements existing decay themes
Elite Theory (pick one approach):
- Option A - Mosca: The Ruling Class by Gaetano Mosca (selected chapter)
- Option B - Burnham chapters (instead of book review):
- “The Managers Shift the Locus of Sovereignty” + “The Struggle for Power”
- Burnham is excellent writer; chapters better than full review
- NOTE: Klein already covers Burnham in Week 3, so evaluate redundancy
Consider: Week already has 5 readings. May need to swap rather than add.
CRITICAL ADDITIONS - Popper himself is completely missing:
- Karl Popper - Choose 2-3 of these:
- “Has History Any Meaning?” (1940 essay) - ESSENTIAL
- Letter to Isaiah Berlin (they met; nice intellectual connection)
- “On Toleration” (1981) - critical review of previous texts
- All available in The Open Society essay collection
Additional consideration:
- Friedrich Hayek: “The Use of Knowledge in Society”
- Currently in Week 6 supplementary, but belongs with Open Society discussion
- Move to main readings here
Key gap: Need voices BY elites, not just ABOUT elites
Strong addition:
- Paul Fussell: Class - at least one chapter on class signifiers
- Complements Brooks’ Bobos perfectly
- Elite self-description/self-awareness
Consider for balance:
- Chris Hayes: Twilight of the Elites (selected chapter)
- Left-progressive elite critique
- Addresses current “in-group writers only” problem
Other materials mentioned:
- Ortega y Gasset (already noted in syllabus)
- Martin Gurri: The Revolt of the Public (one chapter - if not used in Week 2)
Immigration/Colonialism link:
- Bruce Gilley: The Case for Colonialism
- Uses worst-case example (Belgian Congo) to challenge assumptions
- Provocative but fits curriculum’s “honest discussion” ethos
Local/Historical Polarization:
- Bryan Burrough: Days of Rage - 1-2 chapters
- Weather Underground chapter, OR
- Symbionese Liberation Army chapter
- Shows how far polarization can actually go
- 1970s context largely memory-holed
Global Geopolitical Context:
- Pankaj Mishra: From the Ruins of Empire
- Post-colonial perspective, insightful despite political disagreements
- Week already quite full - may be supplementary only
- Consider: Samuel Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” chapter for global polarization framework
Complexity/Innovation focus:
- Joel Mokyr: The Lever of Riches
- Perfect for complexity view of innovation
- Paul Ormerod: Why Most Things Fail
- Lighter read, good complement
CRITICAL ADDITION - Timur Kuran completely missing:
- Timur Kuran: Private Truths, Public Lies (selected chapters)
- Preference falsification theory
- Essential for understanding social/political dynamics
- Major gap in current syllabus
Additional strengthening:
- René Girard - Specific short essay needed
- I See Satan Fall Like Lightning (selected chapter), OR
- “Scandal and the Dance” from Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World, OR
- Consider: Peter Thiel’s “Christianity and Monopoly” essay (applies mimetic theory to politics)
- Theodore Dalrymple: Politics of Decline (essay collection)
- Social aspects of decline
- Provides more mainstream/non-in-group perspective
Balance consideration:
- Current main readings are all “in-group” writers
- Dalrymple provides British center-right mainstream voice
- Week already dense; may need to choose selectively
**## Week 8: Technology and Civilization
Classic theory:
- Marshall McLuhan: Understanding Media
- Opening section/chapter (e.g., “The Medium is the Message”)
- Iconic, essential for technology-society discussions
High modernism:
- James C. Scott: Seeing Like a State (one chapter)
- “Authoritarian High Modernism” (~10 pages, perfect length), OR
- “High Modernism” (longer), OR
- First chapter on nature and space
Contemporary:
- AI/AI art discussion
- Short piece on generative art/creative AI
- Note: Week 10 already covers AGI extensively, so keep focused on current cultural impacts
Note on omissions:
- Nick Land/Xenosystems presumably omitted for good reasons
- Don’t add unless specifically desired
Closing materials:
- Canon/virtue foundation (if not used in Week 1):
- Italo Calvino: Why Read the Classics?, OR
- Harold Bloom: The Western Canon
- “Why bother with any of this?” framework
Final reading - rousing yet elegiac:
- Oswald Spengler: The Decline of the West
- The Roman soldier at Pompeii passage and surrounding chapter
- Stoic duty amid decline
- Beautifully pessimistic yet inspiring about virtue
- Perfect closing note: “cute,” moving, memorable
TIER 1 - Critical gaps
- Week 1: Primary source text (Greek/Roman)
- Week 3: Popper’s own writings (especially “Has History Any Meaning?”)
- Week 7: Kuran on preference falsification
- Week 11: Spengler’s Roman soldier for closing
TIER 2 - Strong enhancements: 5. Week 1: Calvino or Bloom for canon defense 6. Week 4: Fussell’s Class for elite self-description 7. Week 5: Burrough’s Days of Rage for historical polarization context 8. Week 8: McLuhan and Scott for technology-society theory
TIER 3 - Good additions if space allows: 9. Week 1: Pelican Introductions (Jenkins, Lane) 10. Week 2: Berlin, Canetti, Gurri on decay 11. Week 6: Mokyr and Ormerod on innovation/failure 12. Week 7: Dalrymple for balance, Girard for mimetic theory
Balance considerations:
- Add mainstream/progressive voices (Hayes, etc.) to counter “in-group” bias
- Several weeks already at 4-5 readings; may need swaps rather than pure additions
- Prioritize primary sources and canonical theorists over additional commentary