Archive
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Vol. 25 No. 2March/April
Columns
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The Inequality Puzzle
A new study shows there's been no decline in intergenerational poverty in the last 30 years, but it doesn't tell the whole story. -
This Year’s Moderates
Given the GOP's base, even the party's middle-of-the-road conservatives are pretty extreme.
Notebook
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The Conversation: Joshua Steckel and Andrew Delbanco
Steckel, a high school college counselor and author of Hold Fast to Dreams, and Delbanco, author of College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be, discuss the collegiate experience of low-income students. -
The Doctor Is Out
Conservative governors are pushing abortion politics onto health boards—and threatening doctors’ independence on other medical issues.
Culture
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Loving the Opera in HD
Once controversial, Metropolitan Opera broadcasts for movie-theater audiences have become a gateway for new (and returning) fans. -
Francis and His Predecessors
Why the new pope’s tenure may be less liberal but more countercultural than it seems. -
Piketty’s Triumph
Three expert takes on Capital in the Twenty-First Century, French economist Thomas Piketty's data-driven magnum opus on inequality. -
Sit and Wait for the Sadness
The Ozarks—land of hillbillies and a few vast modern fortunes—are the setting for recent literary thrillers.
Features
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How to Raise Americans' Wages
Eight proposals to jump-start the incomes of workers -
When Shareholder Capitalism Came to Town
The rise in inequality can be blamed on the shift from managerial to shareholder capitalism. -
Is There Hope for the Survivors of the Drug Wars?
Criminalized and discarded, falling at the bottom of every statistic, they want something better. -
Plowed Under
Across the northern plains, native grassland is being turned into farmland at a rate not seen since the 1920s. The environmental consequences could be disastrous. -
The Quality of Mercy
An evangelical Christian and former prosecutor, Mark Osler has become one of the country’s most effective advocates for criminal-justice reform.
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Vol. 25 No. 1January/February
Columns
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Want to Rock the Vote? Fill the Election Assistance Commission.
Long lines and broken machines could be fixed with proper oversight. All congress needs to do is fill the empty slots on the "zombie commission." -
Health Reform's Next Test
Will low enrollment in 2014 drive premiums higher for 2015?
Notebook
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The Conversation: Elizabeth Kolbert and Bill McKibben
Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, and McKibben, founder of 350.org, discuss raising awareness about environmental catastrophe.
Culture
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The Man Who Knew Too Little
A CIA memoir whose emptiness is something to contemplate -
The Moment of Creation
Do America’s current challenges in the Middle East trace back to Harry Truman’s 1948 missteps? -
The Coen Brothers' Goodbye Song
Inside Llewyn Davis deepens the duo's turn from satire to elegy -
The Urban Poor Shall Inherit Poverty
Sociologist Patrick Sharkey proves a mother’s insecure upbringing harms her child as surely as a neighbor’s broken window.
Features
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This Land Was Your Land
In Utah and other Western states, the country's most pristine wilderness faces new threats from Big Energy and its powerful allies. -
The Fed Transformed
Ben Bernanke rescued the economy. Now Janet Yellen needs to remake the financial system. -
Dan Cantor's Machine
New York’s Working Families Party has built the most effective political operation the American left has seen in decades. Can it duplicate its success in other states? -
James Madison’s Worst Nightmare
Today’s Republicans have become the very kind of obstructionist faction—with apocalyptic politics—that the primary author of our Constitution warned us against.
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Vol. 24 No. 6November/December
Columns
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Fruits of Republican Folly
Public support of the GOP has dipped sharply, but it falls to the Democrats to find a way to take advantage of the moment. -
Fifty Shades of Purple
If the parties started competing for votes across the map, the real winner wouldn't be Democrats or Republicans; it would be small-d democracy.
Notebook
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Poor, with Savings
New York is helping low-income families pay down debts and cover expenses. But don’t expect this program to go national. -
In the Weeds
Can Colorado and Washington make legal marijuana work?
Culture
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Soul Food's Contested History
Does a new account with recipes get it right? -
Bretton Woods Revisited
John Maynard Keynes’s monetary strategy was awkward and utopian. Don’t underestimate what it accomplished. -
Korean Lit Comes to America
The country frets that it trails China and Japan, which have won literary Nobels. -
Eric Schlosser, Bard of Folly
What the Command and Control author is teaching Americans about our reliance on technology. -
Jezebel Grew Up
The website used upstart humor to teach feminism to a generation. Now it’s a media “influencer.” -
Dave Eggers Is Worried about America
The famously hopeful novelist's move to dystopian fiction in The Circle.
Features
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What Divides Democrats
It’s economics: Cory Booker’s Wall Street liberalism versus Bill de Blasio’s anti-corporate populism. These divisions will shape the 2016 presidential contest. -
The People's Court?
If you want to see where the problems of unaffordable housing and low wages and poor education play out every day, go to Detroit's 36th District Court.
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Vol. 24 No. 5September/October 2013
Columns
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Can Republicans Buck the Tea Party?
While Congress has done its darndest to kill the Affordable Care Act, Republican governors in some swing states have taken a lead in pushing for Medicaid expansion. -
Let's Shut Down the Filibuster
Why it made sense for Democrats to take the risk of ending the filibuster on most nominations.
Notebook
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Pandora's Box
How do we harness the power of 3-D printing while protecting ourselves from its dark side? -
Daddy's Home!
In California, a growing number of fathers are taking advantage of paid parental leave.
Culture
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Rise of the “Nones”
America’s rapidly changing religious landscape -
The Conflicted Gay Pioneer
Donald Webster Cory's 1951 landmark book, The Homosexual in America, inspired early activists. Then he disavowed its message. -
Last Day of a Young Black Man
Fruitvale Station's intimate portrait of Oscar Grant promises better days ahead for black film. -
Reagan's Court v. the Libertarians'
A new crop of Supreme Court books show Chief Justice Roberts siding with his hero's ghost—for now. -
Mailer's Mark
His writing turned out to be mortal. But in post–World War II American culture, he’s still a giant. -
We Shall Overwhelm
A new book explores when and why America’s rich protest.
Features
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The 40-Year Slump
From 1954 thought 1974, American workers brought home most of the wealth that they produced. Since 1974, they've steadily lost power—and they're getting just a fraction of the wealth they produce today. -
The Evangelist
Jim Gilliam of NationBuilder says his software will "democratize democracy." So why do many of his progressive friends consider him a traitor? -
The Task Rabbit Economy
At the rate things are going, tens of millions of us could end up as temps, contract employees, call-center operators, and the like. -
The Robot Invasion
The question that haunted the post-war industrial tech boom of the 1950s is rising again: Have we reached a stage at which technology is destroying more jobs than it's creating?
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Vol. 24 No. 4July/August 2013
Columns
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Republicans vs. Democracy in North Carolina
GOP lawmakers are trying to turn the South’s most progressive election laws into the nation’s most restrictive. But will they win the battle and lose the war? -
Must Austerity Keep Winning?
To defeat government bashing, we need public support for the middle-class emblems of higher education and housing.
Notebook
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Our Passivity Surplus
As recent calamities show, change takes empathy—plus insisting on making yourself heard. -
The Ex-Con Factor
Felony-disenfranchisement laws suppress black turnout enough to swing elections, and the future of reform is murky. -
When I'm Old and Gay
Retirement can be sweet for well-off LGBT elders, but it is fraught with perils for most.
Culture
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New Treasure in Maine
The Colby College Museum of Art reopens, ready to share its $100 million gift and quietly bold vision. -
Take Me Out with the Crowd
Can numbers-happy fantasy sports replace team play as a metaphor for the American way of living? -
George Packer's U.S.A.
The author's chronicle of solitary Americans after the financial crash is nostalgic—but for what, exactly? -
Agee, Before He Was Famous
Can a rediscovered first draft of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men speak more directly to our time than the finished masterpiece? -
The North Wing
The Danish series Borgen is a huge hit in Europe. Will its mixture of raw politics, social democratic ideals, and human frailties succeed in the U.S.? -
If Pot Becomes Legal
What will become of its secretive California hometown?
Features
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Fashioning Justice for Bangladesh
Western multinationals are behind disasters like the Bangladesh factory collapse. Will public outrage and a new labor agreement lead to improvements for workers? -
What's Killing Poor White Women?
For most Americans, life expectancy continues to rise—but not for uneducated white women. They have lost five years, and no one knows why. -
Los Infiltradores
How three young undocumented activists risked everything to expose the injustices of immigrant detention—and invented a new form of protest. -
The Withered Writ
Habeas corpus, the age-old means for prisoners to challenge their detention, has never been more restricted than it is now. -
L.A. Story
The Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy: a new model for American liberalism?
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