Art and Culture
History Lessons from the Toronto Mob Targeting a 19th-Century Gay Icon
In 1793, Alexander Wood emigrated from Scotland to Upper Canada at the age of 21. Within seven years, he had become one of the most successful merchants in York (which eventually would grow into Toronto), a lieutenant in its militia, and a magistrate. He would eventually serve as an acting
How D.B. Cooper and the Golden Age of Air Piracy Changed Aviation Fiction
Frank Sinatra's “Come Fly With Me” was the best-selling album in the United States for five weeks in 1958, but the irony of its popularity (or, perhaps, the source of its aspirational appeal) is that practically none of us could take up the offer to "glide, starry-eyed" on an aircraft
High White Notes: The Rise and Fall of Gonzo Journalism—A Review
A review of High White Notes: The Rise and Fall of Gonzo Journalism by David S. Wills. Beatdom Books, 555 pages. (November 2021) I. In High White Notes, his riveting new biography of Hunter S. Thompson, journalist David S. Wills describes Thompson as America’s first rock star reporter and
Does Christine Brown Deserve to Burn in Hell?
NOTE: To mark Halloween, Quillette editor Jamie Palmer writes about one of his favourite modern horror films. Please be aware that this essay discusses the plot in its entirety and contains spoilers from the start. A clever modern parable of guilt and retribution, Sam Raimi’s 2009 horror carnival Drag
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and the Meaning of Human Suffering
There is only one thing that I dread: Not to be worthy of my sufferings. ~Fyodor Dostoevsky I mean, I got one life, right? Mine. But fuck, I want somebody else's sometimes. Sometimes I just feel like I'm fighting for a life I just ain't got time to live. I
Cancelling the Beat Generation
Almost from its inception, the Beat Generation seemed to be doomed to failure. In and around Columbia University, a ragtag group of bohemians coalesced based upon an odd array of mutual interests. Two of them were homosexuals, one bisexual, and all were interested in drugs and subversive literature. William S.
Rocker Crocked. Pistol Shot.
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,Awaits alike th' inevitable hour.The paths of glory lead but to the grave. ~Thomas Gray, Elegy written in an English Country Churchyard. I shouldn’t overstretch this frame—or shoe-horn the bunion-disfigured
A Peculiarly Australian Kind of Hell—Revisiting ‘Wake in Fright’
Watching director Ted Kotcheff’s 1971 psychodrama Wake in Fright 50 years after its initial release somehow evokes the irrecoverably distant and the hauntingly familiar. In one respect, the film’s desolate setting and suffocating atmosphere of violent desperation are so far removed from the urban, multicultural experience of Australia
