Books and Ideas

‘Thought Leaders’ and the Plutocrats Who Love Them

‘Thought Leaders’ and the Plutocrats Who Love Them ‘Thought Leaders’ and the Plutocrats Who Love Them

The wealthy have taken over intellectual culture, and it’s devastating progressive politics.

Apr 12, 2017 / Column / Eric Alterman

Our Addiction to Elections Is Killing American Democracy

Our Addiction to Elections Is Killing American Democracy Our Addiction to Elections Is Killing American Democracy

It’s time to embrace other avenues of political engagement.

Apr 12, 2017 / Daniel M. Shea

National Endowment cuts

Who Needs the NEA and NEH? Who Needs the NEA and NEH?

What is really lost when we cut public funds for the arts and humanities.

Apr 7, 2017 / David Hajdu

The Crisis of the Liberal Order and Pankaj Mishra’s ‘Age of Anger’

The Crisis of the Liberal Order and Pankaj Mishra’s ‘Age of Anger’ The Crisis of the Liberal Order and Pankaj Mishra’s ‘Age of Anger’

Fundamental reformation is required, if we are to do better than the world he describes.

Apr 6, 2017 / Patrick Lawrence

Rachel Maddow

Obsession With the Russia Connection Is a High-Risk Anti-Trump Strategy Obsession With the Russia Connection Is a High-Risk Anti-Trump Strategy

It lets Democrats off the hook for their own failures—and betting the resistance on finding a smoking gun is a fool’s game.

Apr 6, 2017 / Greg Grandin

Letters Icon

Letters From the April 24/May 1, 2017, Issue Letters From the April 24/May 1, 2017, Issue

Hamilton!, the article (and a back-and-forth)… Small-town resistance… The Lone Star State sends its regards…

Apr 6, 2017 / Our Readers

dana schutz open casket

Dana Schutz’s Right to Make Art Dana Schutz’s Right to Make Art

The controversy over “Open Casket” forces us to reconsider whether an artist’s identity matters.

Apr 6, 2017 / Column / Katha Pollitt

hans morgenthau teach in

Teach-Ins Helped Galvanize Student Activism in the 1960s. They Can Do So Again Today. Teach-Ins Helped Galvanize Student Activism in the 1960s. They Can Do So Again Today.

Then as now, the origin of a national political movement was in the initially obscure actions of ordinary individuals.

Apr 6, 2017 / Marshall Sahlins

Is Our Common Humanity a Discovery or an Invention?

Is Our Common Humanity a Discovery or an Invention? Is Our Common Humanity a Discovery or an Invention?

A new book offers a panoramic view of how we came to recognize each other as equals.

Apr 6, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Michael Walzer

Katrina vanden Heuvel and Yevgeny Yevtushenko

On the Poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko On the Poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko

The “poetician, not politician” always seemed conscious of the Russian adage that a great writer is more than a writer—he is a second government.

Apr 5, 2017 / Katrina vanden Heuvel

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