I published this piece in LARB almost two months ago but forgot to update here! It’s a review of Marc Stears’ “Out of the Ordinary,” which purports that a focus on “ordinary life” on the part of a group of British writers and artists (including George Orwell and Dylan Thomas) helped create a humane, effective center-left in Britain in the mid-twentieth century. I don’t “buy” it but it was an interesting and thought-provoking book. Also, Stears wrote a nice tweet about my review! In contrast to my rep in some quarters as an unforgiving ideological warrior, I do like to clasp hands across divides. It just turns out some divides are hard or impossible or not worth crossing. Anyway! Here’s the link. Enjoy!