The first draft of cultural history: Review of ‘Blank Space’ by W. David Marx

Published January 9, 2026 3:44am ET



Cheekily titled after one of Taylor Swift’s biggest hits, Blank Space is an attempt by culture writer W. David Marx to do something extremely ambitious in an extremely compact package: a 375-page (with endnotes!) capsule summary of the entirety of global culture over the past 25 years.

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