{"id":25678,"date":"2019-01-03T11:20:51","date_gmt":"2019-01-03T17:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/?page_id=25678"},"modified":"2026-01-30T11:55:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T17:55:06","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A classroom the size of the world: that is the goal of Public Books<\/em>. Here is where experts\u2014scholars and academics and students of all kinds\u2014share their hard-won knowledge with the widest possible audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here we offer a portrait of the university to come: without walls and without borders, online and free for all. Wherever people gather to learn, there must be the university. And the ideas that universities discover, build, and teach may yet redirect our futures. And so, while the struggle to defend the university will be fought over many years, the fight to reinvent the university\u2014and to build the ideas necessary for escaping our shared crises\u2014starts now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read Public Books<\/em> to learn what\u2019s at stake. Read for literatures that have not yet received their due. Read to discover knowledge before the headlines. Read to build a public world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Masthead<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Section Editors<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editors<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Past Editors<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporters<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Masthead<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Founding Editors<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Sharon Marcus<\/a>
Caitlin Zaloom<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editors in Chief<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Geraldo Cadava<\/a>
Nicholas Dames<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editorial Director<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Ben Platt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managing Editor<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Megan Cummins<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Associate Editor<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Imani Radney<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assistant Editor<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Morgan Barry<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editors at Large<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Sharon Marcus<\/a>
Caitlin Zaloom<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editorial Board<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Geraldo Cadava
Nicholas Dames
Frank Guridy
Eleanor Johnson
Sharon Marcus
Kelley Deane McKinney
Caitlin Zaloom<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Board of Directors<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Arianne Chernock
Carolyn Dever
George Justice
Caitlin Zaloom (chair)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Section Editors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Borderlands<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

A. Naomi Paik<\/a>
Catherine S. Ram\u00edrez<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Culture Industries<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Laura B. McGrath<\/a>
Dan Sinykin<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disability<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Liz Bowen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global Black History<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Marlene L. Daut<\/a>
Tao Leigh Goffe<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Higher Education<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Dennis M. Hogan<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Literary Fiction<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Jesse McCarthy<\/a>
Tara K. Menon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Literature in Translation<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

B\u00e9cquer Segu\u00edn<\/a>
Bonnie Chau<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Music<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Gustavus Stadler<\/a>
Gayle Wald<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poetry<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Eleanor Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politics<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Ivan Ascher<\/a>
Joanne Randa Nucho<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Print\/Screen<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Leah Price<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sports<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Frank Andre Guridy<\/a>
B\u00e9cquer Segu\u00edn<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Systems & Futures<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Matthew Wolf-Meyer<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technology<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Mona Sloane<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TV<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Kessler<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urbanism<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Sophie Gonick<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contributing Editors<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Charlotte E. Rosen<\/a>
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein<\/a>
Victoria Wiet<\/a>
Stephanie Wong<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Series Editors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

B-Sides<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

John Plotz<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public Thinker<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

B. R. Cohen<\/a>
Ben Platt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public Streets<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Abigail Struhl<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quizzical<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Mary Zaborskis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shoptalk<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Mary Zaborskis<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Past Editors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Anthropology & Religion<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Matthew Engelke<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antiquities<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Sarah E. Bond<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Art<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Best<\/a>
Anne Higonnet<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capitalism<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Destin Jenkins<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Children\u2019s & YA Literature<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Marah Gubar<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comics<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Jared Gardner<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digital Humanities<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Richard Jean So<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Film<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Sharon Marcus<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Patrick Abatiell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global Black History<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Keisha N. Blain<\/a>
Annette Joseph-Gabriel<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Higher Education<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Carolyn Dever<\/a>
Roopika Risam<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

literature in translation<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Twilley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lives & Histories<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Deborah Cohen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poetry<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Christopher Nealon<\/a>
Geoffrey G. O\u2019Brien<\/a>
Rowan Ricardo Phillips<\/a>
Yanyi<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public Streets<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Ellis Avery<\/a> (1972\u20132019)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romance Novels<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Noah Berlatsky<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sex<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Heather Love<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sociology<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Mich\u00e8le Lamont<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Systems & Futures<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Gretchen Bakke <\/a>(Founding Editor)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TV<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Liz Maynes-Aminzade<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urbanism<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Max Holleran<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Videogames<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Matt Margini<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@X<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Arianne Chernock<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Supporters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since its inception in 2012, Public Books<\/em> has been supported by Columbia University\u2019s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University’s Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities, New York University’s Office of the Provost, New York University\u2019s Institute for Public Knowledge, Northwestern University\u2019s Chabraja Center for Historical Studies, and the Public Books Foundation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A classroom the size of the world: that is the goal of Public Books. Here is where experts\u2014scholars and academics and students of all kinds\u2014share their hard-won knowledge with the widest possible audience. Here we offer a portrait of the university to come: without walls and without borders, online and free for all. Wherever people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-25678","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOur Mission - Public Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A classroom the size of the world: that is the goal of Public Books. Here is where experts\u2014scholars and academics and students of all kinds\u2014share their\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/about\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Our Mission - Public Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A classroom the size of the world: that is the goal of Public Books. Here is where experts\u2014scholars and academics and students of all kinds\u2014share their\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/about\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Public Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Public-Books\/201143656634392\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-30T17:55:06+00:00\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/about\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/about\\\/\",\"name\":\"Our Mission - Public Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-03T17:20:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-30T17:55:06+00:00\",\"description\":\"A classroom the size of the world: that is the goal of Public Books. Here is where experts\u2014scholars and academics and students of all kinds\u2014share their\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/about\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/about\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/about\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Our Mission\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Public Books\",\"description\":\"a magazine of ideas, arts, and scholarship\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Public Books\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/pb_logo_2x.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/pb_logo_2x.jpg\",\"width\":212,\"height\":362,\"caption\":\"Public Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/pages\\\/Public-Books\\\/201143656634392\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/public_books\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Our Mission - Public Books","description":"A classroom the size of the world: that is the goal of Public Books. Here is where experts\u2014scholars and academics and students of all kinds\u2014share their","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/about\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Our Mission - Public Books","og_description":"A classroom the size of the world: that is the goal of Public Books. Here is where experts\u2014scholars and academics and students of all kinds\u2014share their","og_url":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/about\/","og_site_name":"Public Books","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Public-Books\/201143656634392","article_modified_time":"2026-01-30T17:55:06+00:00","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/about\/","url":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/about\/","name":"Our Mission - Public Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-01-03T17:20:51+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-30T17:55:06+00:00","description":"A classroom the size of the world: that is the goal of Public Books. Here is where experts\u2014scholars and academics and students of all kinds\u2014share their","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/about\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/about\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/about\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Our Mission"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/","name":"Public Books","description":"a magazine of ideas, arts, and scholarship","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#organization","name":"Public Books","url":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/pb_logo_2x.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/pb_logo_2x.jpg","width":212,"height":362,"caption":"Public Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Public-Books\/201143656634392","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/public_books\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25678"}],"version-history":[{"count":150,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64697,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25678\/revisions\/64697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}