Your Mid-Week Experiment

Welcome to your always free, reader-supported edition of The Experiment where we share great things to read, cook, listen to, and watch. As always, this bugga free.

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Let’s get right to it:

Word nerds will love this examination of the rapid evolution of the word “woke.” (John McWhorter)

Fans of black bears eating crackpot Libertarians will love this one. (Patrick Blanchfield)

I was surprised at the uniquely American roots of the Dutch baby. (Sam Sifton)

It wouldn’t surprise me if J.D. Vance personally asked for the administration to ban Hillbilly Elegy just to boost sales. (the 19th*)

These two historians call the kind of government we have now “competitive authoritarianism.” (Foreign Affairs)

Finally, Scott Galloway has a credible suggestion for Democrats on how to effectively oppose the Trump-Musk administration. (No Mercy, No Malice)

Don’t judge this show until you have completed the pilot episode.

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We set up a merch table in the back where you can get T-shirts, coffee mugs, and even tote bags now. Show the world that you’re part of The Experiment.

Buy the book Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick banned from the Bullock Texas History Museum: Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of the American Myth by Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson, and myself is out from Penguin Random House.