Books and Ideas

Thomas Paine

Make 2026 the Year of Thomas Paine Make 2026 the Year of Thomas Paine

As America celebrates its 250th birthday, remember the founder who rallied the people against British and American oligarchs.

Jan 2, 2026 / John Nichols

Cyclists waiting at railroad crossing in Shenyang, China, 1990.

The Dislocations of Shuang Xuetao The Dislocations of Shuang Xuetao

The Chinese writer’s fiction details how the country transformed on an intimate level after the Cultural Revolution.

Dec 30, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Ting Lin

A child on a swing outside a residential building damaged by a missile in Kyiv, Ukraine, 2022.

An Absurdist Novel That Tries to Make Sense of the Ukraine War An Absurdist Novel That Tries to Make Sense of the Ukraine War

Maria Reva’s Endling is at once a postmodern caper and an autobiographical work that explores how ordinary people navigate a catastrophe.

Dec 30, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Laura Mills

Why We Keep Reading “All Quiet on the Western Front”

Why We Keep Reading “All Quiet on the Western Front” Why We Keep Reading “All Quiet on the Western Front”

A new translation vividly renders the sadly evergreen influence of the Erich Maria Remarque’s World War I novel.

Dec 29, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Paul Reitter

Jules Feiffer, Elizabeth Pochoda, Bill Moyers

In Memoriam: Beautiful Writers, Influential Editors, Committed Activists In Memoriam: Beautiful Writers, Influential Editors, Committed Activists

A tribute to Nation family we lost this year—from Jules Feiffer to Joshua Clover, Elizabeth Pochoda, Bill Moyers, and Peter and Cora Weiss

Dec 23, 2025 / Obituary / Richard Kreitner

Dev Hynes performing as Blood Orange.

Blood Orange’s Sonic Experiments Blood Orange’s Sonic Experiments

Dev Hynes moves between grief and joy in Essex Honey, his most personal album yet.

Dec 23, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Bijan Stephen

How the Border Patrol Moved Inland—and Created a Police State

How the Border Patrol Moved Inland—and Created a Police State How the Border Patrol Moved Inland—and Created a Police State

In 1994, the writer Leslie Marmon Silko wrote a piece for The Nation warning of a frightening new immigration regime.

Dec 19, 2025 / Richard Kreitner

Seattle, Washington, 2022.

Organized Labor at a Crossroads Organized Labor at a Crossroads

How can unions adapt to a new landscape of work?

Dec 17, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Nelson Lichtenstein

A still from the video of the 1992 police beating of Rodney King. LAPD chief Daryl Gates defended the department’s racist police regime until he was forced out in the wake of King’s beating.

Breaking the LAPD’s Choke Hold Breaking the LAPD’s Choke Hold

How the late-20th-century battles over race and policing in Los Angeles foreshadowed the Trump era.

Dec 17, 2025 / Feature / Danny Goldberg

Nation Poetry

Tooqborni Tooqborni

Dec 17, 2025 / Poems / Peter Twal

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