October 15, 2012 Issue

Cover art by: Cover design by Milton Glaser Incorporated

Feature

The Battle for Congress

Even if Obama wins, he won’t be able to accomplish much if progressives don’t do well in legislative races. Here are ten worthy contenders.
John Nichols
Has Florida Created a Trap at the Polls for Ex-Felons?

Many of Florida’s ex-felons are receiving conflicting information on their voting rights. That could spell disaster in November.
Brentin Mock
The Blue-State Strategy for Progressive Renewal

Democrats have a rich opportunity to push electoral reform at the state level.
Steven Hill
A Way Out of Syria’s Catastrophe

Washington must work with Russia, embracing the letter and spirit of the Geneva principles agreed upon in June.
Jonathan Steele

Editorial

The Fight to Vote

The right’s war on democracy underscores the need for a constitutionally protected right to vote.
The Editors
The Kochs’ Ground Game

Under the radar, the pseudo-grassroots group Americans for Prosperity is pulling out the stops to defeat Obama.
Lee Fang
Noted

Highlights from the Voting Rights Watch 2012 blog, from Brentin Mock, Aura Bogado and Maegan E. Ortiz
Various Contributors
A Human Rights Court Gives Torture the Green Light

In refusing to block the extradition of terror suspects to the US, the European Court for Human Rights has condoned a brutal regimen of long-term solitary confinement.
Jeanne Theoharis and Saskia Sassen
Bad Lessons From ‘Won’t Back Down’

A crude and hackneyed film, Won’t Back Down peddles an improbable and deceptive message about schools and poverty.
Dana Goldstein
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Books & the Arts

A Tale of Two Zionisms: On Peter Beinart

Why Israel’s purposes cannot be grasped only through the American Jewish experience.
Bernard Avishai
The Open

Andrés Sánchez Robyana
Shelf Life

Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen and Sonu Shamdasani’s The Freud Files; E. James Lieberman and Robert Kramer, editors, The Letters of Sigmund Freud and Otto Rank
Elias Altman
Empire and Revolution: On Joshua Freeman

In a new history of postwar America, Joshua Freeman argues that policy changes occur because of pressure from the bottom up.
Thomas J. Sugrue
Bad Lessons From ‘Won’t Back Down’

A crude and hackneyed film, Won’t Back Down peddles an improbable and deceptive message about schools and poverty.
Dana Goldstein
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