On Thursday, October 15, “The Nation Live!”, a live magazine experience created to mark the magazine’s 150th anniversary, played in front of a full house at Town Hall in Seattle.
The program featured some of The Nation’s (and the nation’s) most creative and radical voices in a mixed-media program of short talks, readings, conversations, and live music.
Watch Naomi Klein bring Wendell Berry’s 1976 musings about energy and development to life with an urgent and soulful contemporary postscript; Dave Zirin relive Muhammad Ali’s 1976 letter to The Nation about the tension between liberal reform and more radical critique; and Richard Kim breathe life into Tony Kushner’s classic 1994 essay, “Socialism of the Skin,” bringing it into a modern space with nuance and appreciation.
Also featured: a conversation between Seattle’s Socialist city council member Kshama Sawant and longtime progressive city council member Nick Licata; Washington State Senator Pramila Jayapal reflecting on Eleanor Roosevelt’s 1940 essay, “Fear is the Enemy,” and its much-needed message today. John Nichols tells a remarkable and largely unknown story about The Nation’s profound influence on American music, illustrated by a live performance by the talented vocalist, Eric Clausell.
The NationTwitterFounded by abolitionists in 1865, The Nation has chronicled the breadth and depth of political and cultural life, from the debut of the telegraph to the rise of Twitter, serving as a critical, independent, and progressive voice in American journalism.