Recap and Video

“You Don’t Recycle Your Way Out of a Wildfire”

How a path of collective bargaining and self-determination can save us from an AI apocalypse, according to technology activist and author Cory Doctorow

By Malcolm Burnley
Citizen of the Week

Natasha Agarwal

Five years after collecting her first donations, Penn student Natasha Agarwal is celebrating 250,000 books distributed to young readers.

By Diemmy Dang
Listen

What Six Years of the Velshi Banned Book Club Taught Us

The MS Now host and Citizen board member looks back at American book bans and has some final thoughts.

By Ali Velshi

Letters To My Murdered Brother

In Brother Epistles, set to be released this month, Dr. Shanda McManus delves into her decades-long grief after losing her brother to a shooting, and examines the forces shaping the lives of other young Black men.

By Mensah M. Dean
The Citizen Recommends

Cory Doctorow’s The Reverse Centaur’s Guide To Life After AI Book Launch

Join The Citizen on June 25 to hear from the bestselling author and critic about making AI work for humans — not the other way around

By Roxanne Patel Shepelavy
Ideas We Should Steal

Books for Every Pennsylvania Child

Like 22 other states, the PA House passed a Montco Rep’s bill to encourage reading in every household. The inspiration? Dolly Parton

By Roxanne Patel Shepelavy

Fighting Black Erasure

Penn professor Sarah Jackson’s new book chronicles the radical acts of Black media-makers who, recognized or not, have shaped the American Experiment over the past 250 years.

By Malcolm Burnley
Book Excerpt

Philadelphia — A Walk Through History

Looking for a new way to see your city? A Citizen contributor's new book on Philly walking tours focuses on the people behind the places — including history-making women

By Natalie Pompilio
Citizen Recommends

Sara Novic’s Mother Tongue

The Philadelphia writer on her new memoir on becoming deaf, parenting a deaf child, and the history of deaf culture in the United States

By Courtney DuChene
RECAP

The Man Who Paid for America

What we learned from author, businessman and Citizen supporter Richard Vague about Thomas Willing, America’s first banker

By Courtney DuChene