Books and Ideas

Heterosexual and Miserable

Heterosexual and Miserable Heterosexual and Miserable

Lisa Taddeo’s Three Women, a sprawling sexual biography of a trio of women, is the latest flawed attempt to chronicle the country’s changing mores.

Aug 15, 2019 / Marie Solis

The Boycott’s Abolitionist Roots

The Boycott’s Abolitionist Roots The Boycott’s Abolitionist Roots

How a group of 19th-century Quakers cut their economic ties to slavery.

Aug 14, 2019 / Willy Blackmore

Don’t Let the Trump Administration Rewrite Emma Lazarus

Don’t Let the Trump Administration Rewrite Emma Lazarus Don’t Let the Trump Administration Rewrite Emma Lazarus

The Statue of Liberty poem “The New Colossus” was written as a radical call to welcome all immigrants—not just the wealthy and connected.

Aug 14, 2019 / John Nichols

Tom Tomorrow cartoon

A Glib Sociopath on Why a Gun Ban Simply Won’t Work A Glib Sociopath on Why a Gun Ban Simply Won’t Work

Sure, you can ban assault rifles—the next mass murderer will just drop anvils on people.

Aug 13, 2019 / Tom Tomorrow

Letters Icon

Letters From the August 26-September 2, 2019, Issue Letters From the August 26-September 2, 2019, Issue

Eyes wide open… The other stain… Sanders’s exceptionalism?… Human rights v. propaganda (web only)…

Aug 13, 2019 / Our Readers and Omar Barghouti

John Ratcliffe Congress Mueller

John Ratcliffe as a Director of National Intelligence Nominee John Ratcliffe as a Director of National Intelligence Nominee

He was loyal to Trump, thus the White House was sure He was right for the post he’d be getting. But his résumé, even when padded, was thin. They persist in forgetting the vetting.

Aug 13, 2019 / Column / Calvin Trillin

Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the Long Arc of Reconstruction

Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the Long Arc of Reconstruction Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the Long Arc of Reconstruction

In his new book, Gates argues that the history of American democracy has always been one of constant push and pull.

Aug 13, 2019 / Books & the Arts / Robert Greene II

The Contradictions of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

The Contradictions of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. The Contradictions of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

The Supreme Court justice may have been heralded by many of his progressive peers, but the legacy he left behind is far more ambiguous.

Aug 13, 2019 / Books & the Arts / Brenda Wineapple

Richard Holbrooke and the Lost Idealism of a Generation

Richard Holbrooke and the Lost Idealism of a Generation Richard Holbrooke and the Lost Idealism of a Generation

Holbrooke’s public and personal life captures the contradictions of a cohort of liberals that came of age in the 1960s.

Aug 13, 2019 / Books & the Arts / David Klion

Toni Morrison Bookshelf

Toni Morrison Bookshelf Toni Morrison Bookshelf

Drawing a legend. In 2014 The Nation asked me to draw a piece to present to Toni Morrison at a tribute to her at the annual dinner. Ms. Morrison, I was led to understand, did no...

Aug 10, 2019 / OppArt / Steve Brodner

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