Quote of the Day (Ayad Akhtar, on the 1980s and the Paramount Value of Money)

“The 1980s represented the time in our history when any other competing value besides money—because there have been other competing values—disappeared, and that’s why I’m writing about that era [in Junk]. The personal freedom to make as much money as I want, to buy whatever I want, became the only national value. And these libertarian ideals were embraced by both sides. But in the wake of that, everybody’s left on their own.” —Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar (Disgraced, Junk), interviewed by Adrienne Westenfeld, "ESQ IQ Money Talks: Ayad Akhtar,” Esquire, December 2017

The photo accompanying this post, of Ayad Akhtar at the 2012 Texas Book Festival in Austin, Texas, was taken on Oct. 27, 2012 by Larry D. Moore.