Books and Ideas

Interior of The Strand, a book store in New York

The Ingenuity Keeping Indie Bookstores Going The Ingenuity Keeping Indie Bookstores Going

Amazon and the pandemic have left indie bookstores in a bind. They’re reinventing from the inside out.

May 12, 2020 / Katrina vanden Heuvel

Tom Tomorrow cartoon

The Media Is ‘Both-Sides’-ing the Coronavirus Disaster The Media Is ‘Both-Sides’-ing the Coronavirus Disaster

Should we ask a coronavirus particle how to get rid of it?

May 12, 2020 / Tom Tomorrow

How to Caricature a Cartoon Presidency

How to Caricature a Cartoon Presidency How to Caricature a Cartoon Presidency

Matt Bors goes deeper than the day’s news by depicting the attitudes that underlie politics.

May 8, 2020 / Jeet Heer

Eavan Boland, Pillar of Irish Poetry: 1944–2020

Eavan Boland, Pillar of Irish Poetry: 1944–2020 Eavan Boland, Pillar of Irish Poetry: 1944–2020

She helped redefine the literary canon to include women’s voices and those on the margins.

May 6, 2020 / Margaret Spillane

V-E Day Was 75 Years Ago. How Relevant Is It Today?

V-E Day Was 75 Years Ago. How Relevant Is It Today? V-E Day Was 75 Years Ago. How Relevant Is It Today?

The dark cloud of World War II has stopped recent US leaders from seeing the world as it actually is.

May 6, 2020 / Andrew J. Bacevich

President Donald Trump speaks with his hands in the air while standing at a podium

Donald J. Trump, MD Donald J. Trump, MD

Because his uncle taught at MIT, He catches on to science—so says he. That means that from those genes of his from Queens He knows his stuff on testing and vaccines. For otherwise…

May 5, 2020 / Column / Calvin Trillin

Bernie Sanders Reflects on the Power of International Solidarity

Bernie Sanders Reflects on the Power of International Solidarity Bernie Sanders Reflects on the Power of International Solidarity

On May Day, the senator talked with The Nation about the ways in which we’ll need each other in order to recover from this pandemic.

May 5, 2020 / John Nichols

The Making of the Radical Republicans

The Making of the Radical Republicans The Making of the Radical Republicans

How did the struggle for emancipation become a mass politics?

May 5, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Eric Foner

The Inner Life of American Communism

The Inner Life of American Communism The Inner Life of American Communism

Vivian Gornick’s and Jodi Dean’s books mine a lost history of comradeship, determination, and intimacy.

May 5, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Corey Robin

The Long Shadow of Cultural Anthropology

The Long Shadow of Cultural Anthropology The Long Shadow of Cultural Anthropology

Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, and their circle sought to show the fallacy of biological and physical difference, but they also created new forms of categorization that reinforced thei...

May 5, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Jennifer Wilson

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