Frankenstein in Baghdad: A Novel for Our Present Dystopia
An NYU professor who has frequently taught this Iraqi novel finds that two months into Trump 2.0, its significance has shifted considerably.
Deborah Williams
It Is Time to Reclaim Public Intellectuals
Deborah Lindsey Williams Writing in the early part of the 19th century, Alexis de Tocqueville observed that in the newly founded America, “there does not exist . .… Continue reading It Is Time to Reclaim Public Intellectuals
Rebecca Makkai’s New Novel Makes Us Question What We Know
Deborah Williams reviews the new literary thriller from Rebecca Makkai that makes us question everything we know.
Censorship, Book Burning and Abu Dhabi Orientalism
Abu Dhabi-based professor Deborah Williams contrasts the new American censorship of "Maus" and Harry Potter book burning with her own potentially inflammatory syllabus.
Reflections on Abu Dhabi and the U.A.E. at 50
The powerhouse United Arab Emirates has just fêted 50 years as a country, and 10-year resident Deborah Williams takes stock.
Traveling in Contentious Spaces — Saudi Arabia
When friends in Abu Dhabi asked Deborah Williams how she could support MBS by going to “his” festival, she didn’t have an answer, only another question: how do we draw the lines around where we will or won’t go?