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The Case Against Exceptionalism

Defector 05 October 2026 5h ago
The Case Against Exceptionalism
64
Relevance
9/25
Freshness
25/25
Authority
18/20
Brand Signal
6/15
Depth
6/15
Relevance Freshness Authority Brand Depth
The first line in a Min Jin Lee novel gives you the whole story. In Free Food For Millionaires , it’s “Competence can be a curse.” In her follow-up, Pachinko , it’s “History has failed us, but no matter.” Both establish the thesis and themes of the novels, and of her larger project of writing about the Korean diasporic experience. The first line of Lee’s latest novel, American Hagwon , does the sa
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