What Its Like to Serve the Chinese Elite What Its Like to Serve the Chinese Elite
Zhang Yueran’s novel Women, Seated—a take on the upstairs, downstairs drama—examines class conflict among the Chinese upper crust and the people who wait on them.
Mar 27, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Ting Lin
A Landmark Suit Against Meta and YouTube Opens the Floodgate for AI Litigation A Landmark Suit Against Meta and YouTube Opens the Floodgate for AI Litigation
A jury finds big tech liable for programming addictive features into platforms—and that’s basically the business model for companion bots.
Mar 27, 2026 / David Futrelle
The Rapid and “Unprecedented” Collapse of American Democracy The Rapid and “Unprecedented” Collapse of American Democracy
The V-Dem Institute, the world’s chronicler of democracy and autocracy, has determined that the United States is no longer “a liberal democracy.”
Mar 27, 2026 / Column / Sasha Abramsky
The Bad-News Echo Chamber of Pro-Democracy Substack The Bad-News Echo Chamber of Pro-Democracy Substack
How many pro-democracy Substack authors over-focus on gloom and doom and ignore organizing, and who’s bucking that trend.
Mar 27, 2026 / Micah L. Sifry
Donald Trump Is Losing the Iran War Donald Trump Is Losing the Iran War
Despite his constant declarations of victory, the truth about this conflict is clear.
Mar 27, 2026 / Séamus Malekafzali
Trump’s TV-Warped Brain Is Putting the World in Danger Trump’s TV-Warped Brain Is Putting the World in Danger
The president is experiencing the Iran War almost entirely through misleading video clips—and that’s very bad news for all of us.
Mar 26, 2026 / Chris Lehmann
Mamdani Asked Tenants to Tell Him Their Problems. Hundreds Did. Mamdani Asked Tenants to Tell Him Their Problems. Hundreds Did.
What it's like at one of the mayor's "Rental Ripoff" hearings.
Mar 26, 2026 / Prajwal Bhat
In “Bomarzo,” the Renaissance Man is a Monster In “Bomarzo,” the Renaissance Man is a Monster
Manuel Mujica Lainez’s historical novel, a strange biography of a 16th-century duke, leaves the reader wondering if human nature can ever change.
Mar 26, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Max Pearl
Hawaii’s Storm Damage Is Deeply Rooted in the State’s Plantation Past Hawaii’s Storm Damage Is Deeply Rooted in the State’s Plantation Past
The latest wave of storm devastation closely tracks the regional neglect of infrastructure instituted by the state’s first modern agricultural barons
Mar 26, 2026 / Matthew Vickers