Since 2010, Unwinnable has been a showcase for offbeat, experimental, poignant and funny stories about games, books, movies and even weird stuff, like an advice column from a space marine 38,000 years in the future. We're devoted to examining the intersection of the culture we love and the lives we lead, bringing you the best in pop-cultural criticism, creative non-fiction and the occasional serialized short once a week in a beautiful digital magazine. Unwinnable is life with culture. In this issue, Matt Marrone reports from the 2014 Newport Folk Festival and Gus Mastrapa delivers the latest installment of Dungeon Crawler. Meanwhile, Owen R. Smith gets angry at the unjust world we live in and Stu Horvath muses on his life of gaming. No matter what your taste, Unwinnable Weekly has you covered, so make sure to check out our selection of back issues today!

Since 2010, Unwinnable has been a showcase for weird, experimental, poignant, funny and iconoclastic stories. We're devoted to examining the intersection of the culture we love and the lives we lead. Unwinnable wants to bring you the best in pop-culture criticism, creative non-fiction, and the occasional serialized fiction once a week in a beautiful digital magazine. Unwinnable is life with culture. This week’s issue has Matt Marrone sad but relieved at the death of his beloved game geoDefense. Marshall Sandoval has a fascinating conversation with Ben Babbitt, composer of the adventure game Kentucky Route Zero. Meanwhile, Stu Horvath rattles on about monsters of legend and Gus Mastrapa brings us the latest installment of Dungeon Crawler. No matter what your taste, Unwinnable Weekly has you covered, so make sure to check out our selection of back issues today!

Since 2010, Unwinnable has been a showcase for weird, experimental, poignant, funny and iconoclastic stories. We're devoted to examining the intersection of the culture we love and the lives we lead. Unwinnable wants to bring you the best in pop-culture criticism, creative non-fiction, and the occasional serialized fiction once a week in a beautiful digital magazine. Unwinnable is life with culture. Ethan Sacks laments the state of the modern big budget horror film (spoiler alert: director Guillermo Del Toro appears in a cameo). Jill Scharr brings her parents to a haunted house...based on 1980s-era New York City. Ed Coleman doesn’t like horror movies and reveals the 1988’s The Lady in White is the reason why. Stu Horvath does some revealing, too, namely why he dislikes Halloween costumes. Finally, Gus Mastrapa talks to Nate Hayden, designer of the awesomely gruesome board game Psycho Raiders. Nate’s collaborator, artist Mat Brinkman is responsible for our grisly cover art. A special thanks to the both of them for letting us reprint it! And speaking of art, I’ve thrown in a monstrous photograph and Chris Martinez and Amber Harris collaborated on a cheeky bit of Halloween art. No matter what your taste, Unwinnable Weekly has you covered, so make sure to check out our selection of back issues today!

In nine short days, Taliban forces destroyed two decades of American armed statebuilding in Afghanistan. This was no isolated failure. Over the last century, almost every attempt to intervene militarily to prop up or reconstruct an allied state has seen similar dismal outcomes. Why? This book answers that fundamental question. By exploring the factors that hindered success in Afghanistan, Adam Wunische identifies forces common to other unsuccessful U.S. armed statebuilding missions, from Vietnam to Syria, Haiti to Iraq. These forces, he argues, inherently favor insurgencies, forfeit sustainability for quick results, and create dependencies and corruption – all of which undermine the goal of building a state that can stand on its own. Not only that, but most of these forces are inescapable and uncontrollable. This means any future attempts at armed statebuilding will likely also be unwinnable, with costs and consequences far outpacing America’s interests and benefits. Faced with a future likely dominated by proxy wars, Wunische offers a novel way forward to prevent the U.S. from chasing new wars that it is destined to lose.