Water and Soil, Grain and Flesh Water and Soil, Grain and Flesh
Walter Johnson reconsiders the connection between slavery and capitalism.
Feb 11, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Robin Einhorn
Slavery in the Modern World Slavery in the Modern World
David Brion Davis’s pathbreaking study of the problem of slavery.
Jan 29, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Eric Foner
Abie’s Yiddish Muse Abie’s Yiddish Muse
Like a lot of red revolutionaries, Abraham Cahan ended up to the right of where he began.
Jan 29, 2014 / Books & the Arts / D.D. Guttenplan
Law of Life, and Light Law of Life, and Light
A new history of Chile is a wrestling match between fatalism and optimism.
Jan 22, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Lorna Scott Fox
The Battle Hymn of the War on Poverty The Battle Hymn of the War on Poverty
How the call to empathy helped mobilize a nation.
Jan 15, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Sasha Abramsky
Reading Melville in Post-9/11 America Reading Melville in Post-9/11 America
The author's half-forgotten masterpiece, Benito Cereno, provides fascinating insight into issues of slavery, freedom, individualism—and Islamophobia.
Jan 7, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Greg Grandin
Melville and the Language of Denial Melville and the Language of Denial
The events behind his story Benito Cereno are more than two centuries old, but the deceptions of racial inferiority that Melville exposes resonate today.
Jan 7, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Toni Morrison
What Bill de Blasio Can Learn From New York City’s Last Radical Mayor What Bill de Blasio Can Learn From New York City’s Last Radical Mayor
Fiorello La Guardia also took office in a time of crisis—and he was open to new ideas and bold reforms.
Jan 7, 2014 / Books & the Arts / D.D. Guttenplan
This Week in ‘Nation’ History: How We Helped Start the ‘Melville Revival’ of the 1920s This Week in ‘Nation’ History: How We Helped Start the ‘Melville Revival’ of the 1920s
An article in our pages in 1919 helped rescue the long-deceased scribe from obscurity and secured him a prominent place in the American canon.
Jan 4, 2014 / Blog / Katrina vanden Heuvel
Memory Politics: On ‘Franco’s Crypt’ Memory Politics: On ‘Franco’s Crypt’
To what extent does Franco’s rule still dictate contemporary Spanish culture?
Dec 30, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Jonathan Blitzer