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Brian Cook

Brian Cook is an associate editor at In These Times.

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Brian started at the magazine as an intern in December 2001, and became editorial assistant in July 2003, and assistant editor in November 2003. In addition to contributing columns on current events, he reviews literature and has written on language in politics for the magazine.

Brian received his B.A. in English Literature from the University of Richmond, Va., in 1999. He has previously worked as a waiter, a personal care assistant at an Alzheimers’ facility, a Chicago Public School substitute teacher and a freelance question writer for Trivial Pursuit. 

Most Recent Articles view all 66

Latest Comments view all 12

    • 03 Oct 07
    • 11:17 am

    As one of the editors who adapted this piece, the lack of references to Patri Friedman's book was my fault, not China's. In the essay that appears in the collection Evil Paradises, China includes a footnote that cites (and lauds) Mr. Friedman's book. Since magazines like In These Times never use footnotes, I overlooked that citation, but that, obviously, was a mistake. I certainly should have incorporated it into the text, and I apologize to Mr. Friedman for not doing so.

    Posted to Floating Utopias
    • 07 Dec 06
    • 10:56 am

    The change has been made, Raj. Thanks for pointing it out.

    Posted to Outing is In Again
    • 26 Oct 05
    • 3:16 pm

    The following is an email that ITT Associate Editor Brian Cook sent to Dave Lindorff that explains why ITT apologized for his unverifiable assertion that 3000 tons of DU have been used in Iraq. Dave Lindorff has still not provided any verifiable proof that DU has been expanded into bunker-busting bombs, which is the point at issue here: The question, though, is what can actually be verified. No one here doubts that the Pentagon lies, continuously, through their gnarled teeth and soulless fucking eyes. But the question here is whether they've lied in this particular instance and the burden of proof …

    Posted to Radioactive Wounds of War
    • 24 May 05
    • 9:55 am

    I think "Father" makes an intersting point about corporal punishment. As I was writing this editorial, I actually got into a friendly, barroom argument about it with a young, single mother who practiced it on her rambunctious, five-year-old son. I could certainly see her point of view, and I thought about revising my argument accordingly, but, for aesthetic reasons, ultimately decided against it. I think our culture believes corporal punishment to be one of those "necessary evils," a quick and easy way to end a particularly troublesome and vexing situation. It is a short cut, then, a way to bypass debate …

    Posted to Lose the Faith
    • 27 Sep 04
    • 3:41 pm

    I'd like to respond to Cellie. We did not CENSOR this article, we EDITED it because its word count was far too long for our paper edition (and because much of it had already appeared in previous pieces that Zizek had written for us, such as "What Does Europe Want?" and "What Rumsfeld Doesn't Know That He Knows About Abu Ghraib.") In fact, the LRB version was substantially different from the manuscript that Zizek sent us. In particular, they removed an explicit negative reference that Zizek made concerning Henry Kissinger and his status as a war criminal. I would recommend that …

    Posted to The Free World ... of Slums