Hitler, Mussolini, and culture, Salman Rushdie's bubble, Catalonia on the brink

New on nybooks.com: Fascist power and cultural influence, Salman Rushdie’s new novel, an exchange over impeachment, the view from Barcelona, Aleksei Navalny’s crusade, objects and consciousness, and what dismantling the Iran nuclear deal would mean. Sponsored by [Knopf]( [The Cultural Axis]( Robert O. Paxton We do not normally associate Hitler and Mussolini’s regimes with “soft power.” But the two dictators thought literature and the arts were important, and wanted to weaponize them. [Rushdie’s New York Bubble]( Nathaniel Rich Whether by design, chance, or oracular divination, Salman Rushdie has managed, within a year of the 2016 election, to publish the first novel of the Trumpian Era. [More Rules of Impeachment]( Allan Lichtman, Noah Feldman and Jacob Weisberg Can a federal official be impeached for actions taken before assuming office? NYR Daily [Catalonia on the Brink]( Miguel-Anxo Murado Some relationships are better broken, some breakups are followed by regret. What they all have in common is that in most cases breakups are irreparable and painful. [Aleksei Navalny, Anti-Rutabaga Candidate]( Amy Knight This is the third time this year that Russian authorities have put the charismatic anti-corruption crusader behind bars. [Trump’s & Iran’s Hard-liners]( Trita Parsi If the president decertifies the nuclear deal, the blow to Iran’s moderate forces will be far more consequential than Bush’s “axis of evil” declaration. “The notion that objects exist relative to each other, brought into existence by each other, does not clash with any scientific finding or demonstrated result.” – Riccardo Manzotti and Tim Parks, [Consciousness: An Object Lesson]( Calendar [Inequality, Immigration, and the Politics of Populism]( A Conference, New York, October 28–29 Populist parties and movements are becoming a powerful force in both the United States and Europe. Why is this happening, and why is it happening now? The New York Review of Books 435 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014 [Preferences]( | [Unsubscribe](