From the Archive

Mythologizing the Bomb

Mythologizing the Bomb Mythologizing the Bomb

The beauty of the atomic scientists' calculations hid from them the truly Faustian contract they scratched their names to.

Aug 14, 1995 / From the Archive / E.L. Doctorow

William F. Buckley Lived Off Evil As Mold Lives Off Garbage

William F. Buckley Lived Off Evil As Mold Lives Off Garbage William F. Buckley Lived Off Evil As Mold Lives Off Garbage

A not-too-fond remembrance of “Squire Willie,” patron saint of post-World War II American conservatism.

Jun 11, 1988 / From the Archive / Robert Sherrill

Gore Vidal

Requiem for the American Empire Requiem for the American Empire

“Empires are restless organisms. They must constantly renew themselves; should an empire start leaking energy, it will die.”

Jan 11, 1986 / From the Archive / Gore Vidal

Open Letter to the Born Again Open Letter to the Born Again

Sometimes, our best efforts at peace are betrayed.

Sep 29, 1979 / From the Archive / James Baldwin

Coupling and Uncoupling Coupling and Uncoupling

The most striking thing about Couples is the novelist's attempt to break out of the intimist, unpolitical, miniaturist mold that had become his official bust.

May 13, 1968 / Books & the Arts / Jose Yglesias

Hammer of Civil Rights

Hammer of Civil Rights Hammer of Civil Rights

“Exactly one hundred years after Abraham Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation for them, Negroes wrote their own document of freedom in their own way.”

Mar 9, 1964 / From the Archive / Martin Luther King Jr.

A Bold Design for a New South

A Bold Design for a New South A Bold Design for a New South

Tokenism was the inevitable outgrowth of the Administration’s design for dealing with discrimination.

Mar 30, 1963 / From the Archive / Martin Luther King Jr.

It Seems to Heywood Broun It Seems to Heywood Broun

Baseball was glorified as the acme of precision long before the magazine writers began to proclaim that Henry Ford was our equivalent for Goethe.   

Oct 23, 1929 / From the Archive / Heywood Broun

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