History

The Triumphs and Travails of American Marxism

The Triumphs and Travails of American Marxism The Triumphs and Travails of American Marxism

Karl Marx never visited the United States, but he and his ideas left an imprint nonetheless.

Oct 13, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Robin Blackburn

Graffiti reading “Gaza” in Berlin’s diverse Neukölln neighborhood.

How Germany Silenced Its Artists to Support Israel How Germany Silenced Its Artists to Support Israel

As Israel intensified its genocide in Gaza, Germany ramped up its long-simmering war on dissent, silencing Palestine solidarity while bolstering its own far right.

Sep 30, 2025 / Feature / Nikki Columbus

Ben Shahn, 1965.

How Should We Remember the Art of Ben Shahn? How Should We Remember the Art of Ben Shahn?

Caught between his political and aesthetic commitments, the painter, photographer, and illustrator has suffered the fate of misapprehension.

Sep 29, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Pujan Karambeigi

A Social Democratic leaflet against capitalism, 1905.

How Capitalism Survives How Capitalism Survives

According to John Cassidy’s century-spanning history Capitalism and Its Critics, the system lives on because of its antagonists.

Sep 24, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Erik Baker

A lithograph illustrating the discovery of iguanodon fossils in Bernissart, Belgium, 1878 (c. 1880).

The Fight Over the Meaning of Fossils The Fight Over the Meaning of Fossils

When the remains of prehistoric creatures were discovered in Europe and the United States, it opened up a vociferous debate on the nature of time and the purpose of science.

Sep 22, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Andrew Katzenstein

Joe Biden at a cabinet meeting in 2021.

The Catastrophe of Democratic Foreign Policy The Catastrophe of Democratic Foreign Policy

A new book on the Biden’s wars serves as a stark reminder that the Democrats need to formulate a new foreign policy—as well as reckon with the one they had.

Sep 9, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Matthew Duss

A broadside advertising a slave auction outside of Brooke and Hubbard Auctioneers office, Richmond, Virginia, July 23, 1823.

Slavery Was Not Just Forced Labor but Sexual Violence Too Slavery Was Not Just Forced Labor but Sexual Violence Too

Calls to attenuate the brutality of slavery in museum depictions is absurd when our institutions already downplay one of its most horrific features.

Sep 3, 2025 / Channing Gerard Joseph

A man takes a photograph at Deng Xiaoping Portrait Square in Shenzhen, China, 2020.

How China Engineered the Next Century How China Engineered the Next Century

Dan Wang argues that the battle between China and the United States is simply a conflict between engineers and lawyers. The situation is much more complicated than that.

Aug 26, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Rollin Hu

A worker in a coal yard inside a coal mine in the Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, India, 2021.

The Myth of Clean Energy The Myth of Clean Energy

Is all the hope placed in renewables an illusion?

Aug 25, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Trevor Jackson

An effigy of President Donald Trump is lowered outside the Pennsylvania State Capitol.

On the Power of Small Acts of Noncompliance On the Power of Small Acts of Noncompliance

At a moment when large-scale resistance can feel futile,
there are other ways to oppose, engage, and fight back.

Aug 18, 2025 / Column / Elie Mystal

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