Is Normalization With Cuba Irreversible?

That was one of Obama’s goals in his recent trip—and he made huge progress, charming the Cuban public and establishing a rapport with Raúl Castro.

Peter Kornbluh

We’ve Had 1 Black Woman Senator in 227 Years. Donna Edwards Is Running to Change That.

The progressive congresswoman’s personal story and reputation as a fighter has her surging in Maryland.

Joan Walsh

Will This New Book Change the National Debate on Poverty?

Matthew Desmond’s Evicted, now a national bestseller, has exposed the calamitous effects of mass displacement caused by the lack of affordable housing.

Eyal Press

‘Everybody Wants Some!!’ Has Just Enough Gravity

If you’re determined to do it, you can wring a story, some themes, and even a moral out of Richard Linklater’s new movie.

Stuart Klawans

The Cathedral at Ground Zero

Understanding the prosody of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub’s construction also requires an accounting of its extravagance.

Michael Sorkin

Hopes of Coexistence in Syria

Does Samar Yazbek’s diary of the Syrian civil war merely represent the dreams of an exile?

Frederick Deknatel

My Erasures

Rae Armantrout

Reconstruction

Amanda Jernigan

Less Is Moore

Observations is one of the great verbal works of art of the 20th century, in part because of Marianne Moore’s infectious devotion to everything small.

James Longenbach