One of the nice features of our new Substack newsletter is that it encourages all newsletter publishers to recommend other "Substacks" that they find valuable.  In Newsletter 54 and Newsletter 55 we recommended a number of non-mainstream sources of news and commentary that we have found especially useful in illuminating the complexity of the intractable conflict and hyper-polarization problems. As a permanent reference, we are going to start maintaining this listing of all such newsletters. As we clarified before, like any news source, only some of the articles published are related to our interests and we often disagree with the arguments being made. Still, taken together, these sources provide an important window into the complex issues we face — a window that is often missing from mainstream sources.  It is, of course, important to note that quality mainstream sources like the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Policy, also publish large numbers of articles that provide valuable insights into intractable conflict. 

Substack Newsletters

• Big Picture Thinking Examples
  The Dot Connecters — A blog from Chip Hauss, one of the early forces behind BI and someone who taught us much about the importance of leaving one's "comfort zone" and listening to people from different perspectives.
• Developing a Unifying Common Vision
  Fractal Friends — A blog from Duncan Autrey, who taught us the advantages of approaching conflict from an "omni-win" perspective.
• Countering Over-Simplification
  Persuasion — From Yascha Mounk, a community building effort and first-rate blog focused on approaching today's controversies in the spirit of persuasive argument rather than us-vs-them politics.
• Reliable Problem Assessments
  The Honest Broker by Roger Pielke Jr. — A newsletter focused on science, public policy and, especially, climate change that, in being critical of much of mainstream coverage, argues for more effective climate change policies.
• Countering Disinformation Efforts
  Common Sense — From Bari Weiss, who first alerted us to many instances in which (like right-leaning media) left-leaning media was being distorted by audience resistance to stories that challenge prevailing orthodoxies.
• Effective Communication Strategies
  The Best of Journalism — A great, weekly collection of links to a diverse and thought-provoking array of stories from both mainstream and less visible sources.
• Race / Anti-Racism
  Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism — FAIR offers a broad critique of mainstream diversity, equity, and inclusion programs along with a promising and less provocative strategy for achieving the same goals.
• Reliable Problem Assessments
  Slow Boring — From Matthew Yglesias, a newsletter that specializes on going beyond feel-good policy slogans and really engaging (but in an understandable way) complex issues.
• Race / Anti-Racism
  Journal of Free Black Thought — A provocative Substack newsletter that demonstrates that there is a rich diversity of black thought that goes far beyond prevailing orthodoxies.
• Efforts to Limit Concentrated Power
  Kleptocracy — For a world in which corruption is the arguably biggest threat to the ability of liberal democracy's ability to live up to its ideals, a website that keeps track of the global kleptocracy and efforts to combat it.
• Developing a Unifying Common Vision
  The Liberal Patriot — The Liberal Patriot is a website for people interested in building a viable center-left coalition based on longstanding liberal values of tolerance, pluralism, freedom, the common good, and pragmatism. 

Other Newsletters

• Developing a Unifying Common Vision
  NetworkWeaver — For a time when hyper-polarization is driving us ever further apart, a project and a blog focused on strengthening the networks that hold us together.
• Countering Over-Simplification
  Quillette — Quillette offers an extensive series of lengthy critiques of progressive policies on a broad range of subjects (that demonstrate that there is more to politics than the Trump debate).
• Discrimination
  Tablet — With a principal focus on Jewish news, Tablet also provides thoughtful, in-depth critiques of current issues and insights into the much neglected problem of anti-Semitism.
• Defending a Unifying Vision
  American Purpose — With an editorial board chaired by Francis Fukuyama, the American Purpose offers an extensive set of materials focused on defending and improving liberal democracy.
• Understanding The Issues That Divide Us
  Counterweight — Counterweight offers an impressive array of resources designed to help those who would like to question now dominant social policies but feel pressured not to do so.
• Types of Constructive Conflict Projects
  The Fulcrum — From The Bridge Alliance, "a platform where insiders and outsiders to politics are informed, meet, talk, and act to repair our democracy and make it live and work in our everyday lives."
• Understanding The Issues That Divide Us
  National Association of Scholars — A website devoted to upholding the standards of a liberal arts education and fostering intellectual freedom, the search for the truth, and virtuous citizenship.