The Mandarins, Their Virtues and Vices

The Mandarins, Their Virtues and Vices

From Eminent Americans by Daniel Oppenheimer

February 5, 2026 · 1h 4m

About this episode

Daniel Oppenheimer interviews Ash Carter about the legacy of 20th-century editors and the cultural elite's impact on society and politics.

My guest on the show today is Ash Carter , writer and editor for Air Mail magazine and all around chronicler of the post-war cultural elite. I asked Ash to come on after reading the most recent in a series of profiles he’s written about great editors of the 20th century, some of whom, for reasons we discuss, were semi-cancelled in the last decade or two. He’s written about, for instance, former New Republic editor and owner Marty Peretz, Peretz’s longtime literary editor Leon Wieseltier , Vintage Classics legend Gary Fisketjon , New York Review Classics visionary Edwin Frank, and Dick and Jeanette Seaver of Arcade Publishing. It’s a fun conversation that hits on a few of my abiding concerns: the legacy of the WASP elite on our culture and politics, the ways in which we should think about people who do bad things but have made great things, and graphic design, which Ash cares about more than the average magazine editor. I lead off the episode by saying something, perhaps against my better judgement, about Jeffrey Epstein (or Jeff Epstein, as we started calling him in my family for some reason). Here’s what I say. I am genuinely befuddled. I was listening to Jay Kang and Tyler…

People in this episode

Host: Daniel Oppenheimer

Guest: Ash Carter

Topics covered

  • cultural elite
  • WASP legacy
  • editorial history
  • cancellation
  • graphic design
  • politics
  • society

Keywords

  • Ash Carter
  • Daniel Oppenheimer
  • WASP elite
  • cancellation
  • cultural commentary
  • editorial profiles
  • graphic design
  • Jeffrey Epstein

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Air Mail, New Republic, Vintage Classics, New York Review Classics, Arcade Publishing, Time to Say Goodbye

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