In the tyranny of the permanent ad hoc, who has the energy to ask whether the thing to which there are no alternatives is any good?
In our latest issue, Danielle Carrreviews a book on the long history of teletherapy: a mental health tool whose legacy goes much further back than the early days of the pandemic, and whose validity has been contested. “Distance therapy reveals something that is true of human communication in general,” the book argues. “All intimacy relies on a fantasy of togetherness, even when the parties are physically present with each other.”
He’s the obvious favorite. But in an exclusive interview with The Nation, the former mayor recognizes that his road to political redemption might not be all downhill.