You, Free Pressers, have spoken. After reading through all of your recommendations, three clear winners emerged: • Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry • A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles • East of Eden by John Steinbeck Vote for our first Free Press Forum Book Club selection by commenting below.  We’ll announce the winner shortly afterward, along with everything you need to know to get started. Voting CLOSED on Monday, August 10 at 1 p.m. ET. Let the reading begin.

I’m completely mesmerized by the latest installment of the Call Me Back podcast. Dan Senor interviews Dara Horn about her new book, The Final Solution to the Jewish Question, and the conversation is extraordinary. Given the alarming rise in Jew-hatred, they dig into what’s actually happening, why it’s happening, what it reveals about the broader culture, and—most importantly—how we should respond to it. Thought-provoking, unsettling, and incredibly important. Highly recommend listening.

I wrote this a while ago, but it's no less relevant (and I was encouraged to share my work here): https://jsimonrichard.com/blog/2026-01-31-writing-as-thinking/. In a world saturated with AI-generated content, writing still matters—not as a way to produce more output, but as a way to think more clearly. This essay explores writing as a tool for clarifying beliefs, prompting research, and taking responsibility for our reasoning while acknowledging the benefits and limits of AI as a writing aid.