Home Song Home Song
March 24, 1926 Oh breezes blowing on the red hill-top By tall fox-tails, Where through dry twigs and leaves and grasses hop The dull-brown quails! Is there no magic floating in the air To bring to me A breath of you, when I am homesick here Across the sea? Oh black boys holding on the cricket ground A penny race! What other black boy frisking round and round, Plays in my place? When picnic days come with their yearly thrills In warm December, The boy in me romps with you in the hills— Remember! Paris, 1925 This article is part of The Nation’s 150th Anniversary Special Issue. Download a free PDF of the issue, with articles by James Baldwin, Barbara Ehrenreich, Toni Morrison, Howard Zinn and many more, here. Claude McKay (1889–1948), author of the novels Home to Harlem (1928) and Banjo (1929), only published this one poem in The Nation, but he also wrote three essays in the mid-1930s on race relations in New York City—including a firsthand report on the 1935 Harlem riot—and one travel dispatch from North Africa.
Mar 23, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Claude McKay
Separated at Birth Separated at Birth
The Nation and Alice in Wonderland were born within days of each other. In this seditious reading, they rejoin the dance.
Mar 23, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Ariel Dorfman
1915–1965 1915–1965
From World War I to Vietnam, from the red scare to McCarthyism, The Nation stood firm for civil liberties and civil rights, even when that meant being banned—or standing alone.
Mar 23, 2015 / Books & the Arts / D.D. Guttenplan
March 23, 1983: Reagan Proposes the ‘Star Wars’ Initiative March 23, 1983: Reagan Proposes the ‘Star Wars’ Initiative
“There is only one shield against chaos,” the historian E.P. Thompson wrote in The Nation. “It is time to put it in repair.”
Mar 23, 2015 / Richard Kreitner and The Almanac
‘The Nation’ Celebrates 150 Years With a Blockbuster Commemorative Issue, Out Today ‘The Nation’ Celebrates 150 Years With a Blockbuster Commemorative Issue, Out Today
America's oldest weekly magazine marks tenure at forefront of politics, arts, culture, and conversation with a nod to the past and an eye to the future.
Mar 23, 2015 / Press Room
150 Years of Telling the Truth 150 Years of Telling the Truth
Independence—one of the keys to The Nation’s longevity—has become ever more important in an age that urgently needs dissident and rebellious voices.
Mar 23, 2015 / Katrina vanden Heuvel
March 22, 1941: The Grand Coulee Dam Opens March 22, 1941: The Grand Coulee Dam Opens
“Grand Coulee is magnificent,” The Nation observed. “But don’t call it planning.”
Mar 22, 2015 / Richard Kreitner and The Almanac
What Are ‘Nation’ Interns Reading the Week of 3/22/15? What Are ‘Nation’ Interns Reading the Week of 3/22/15?
What Are ‘Nation’ Interns Reading the Week of 3/22/15?
Mar 21, 2015 / Books & the Arts / StudentNation
March 21, 1980: Carter Announces US Boycott of the Moscow Olympics March 21, 1980: Carter Announces US Boycott of the Moscow Olympics
The Nation supported the boycott, but not for Carter’s reasons.
Mar 21, 2015 / Richard Kreitner and The Almanac
What Does It Mean When ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot’ Doesn’t Hold Up? What Does It Mean When ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot’ Doesn’t Hold Up?
Jonathan Capehart dares to ask, and too many on the left don’t want to hear about it.
Mar 20, 2015 / Leslie Savan