“How the Velvet Underground and Václav Havel built a blueprint for toppling totalitarians and other censors.” – Matt Welch & Nick Gillespie at Reason.com

• David Remnick put together a Václav Havel reading list.

• Daniel Pinchbeck, Lenny Kravitz’s daughter, and a Gossip Girl star throw a posh Occupy Wall Street party.

• The best historical fiction of 2011 from NPR Books.

• The Chicago Tribune picks its favorite Windy City works from 2011.

• Captured Tracks has a new Shoegaze Archives series they’re working on.  Here’s the first mix.

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