Conversation Archives

To Know the Disease

Wendell Potter, a former health care executive, reveals the unified corporate effort against Medicare for All—and how those talking points are echoed by candidates and debate moderators

Northern Aggression

by Andrew Cockburn,

Dana Frank, the author of The Long Honduran Night, discusses the parties who orchestrated the 2009 coup and the resistance that has risen to fight against them

So Goes Hodeida, So Goes Yemen

by Andrew Cockburn,

The Saudi-led coalition continues its brutal holding pattern of airstrikes, even in the face of the worst famine in one hundred years

Slow Crash

by Andrew Cockburn,

Economist Michael Hudson on the future of the stock market

Eating Right

by John Herron,

"I think that the metaphor of seeing ethics in terms of a supermarket array of consumption decisions is all too pervasive in contemporary society," says philosopher Paul B. Thompson

Unofficial Stories

by Camille Bromley,

“The suffering cannot disappear without a trace, we need to understand how and why,” says Svetlana Alexievich, the 2015 Nobel laureate in literature and author of Secondhand Time.

Murky Waters

by John R. MacArthur,

Harper's Magazine writer David Gargill on General Electric's failed Hudson River cleanup

Lincoln’s Party

by Scott Horton,

Sidney Blumenthal on the origins of the Republican Party, the fallout from Clinton’s emails, and his new biography of Abraham Lincoln

Unjust Cause

by Andrew Cockburn,

Historian Gar Alperovitz on the decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Joseph Hickman discusses his new book, The Burn Pits, which tells the story of thousands of U.S. soldiers who, after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, have developed rare cancers and respiratory diseases.

Choosing Words

by Osita Nwanevu,

"There is this idea that writing beautifully or writing powerfully is somehow separate from clear thinking," says Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of Between the World and Me. "It’s not."

Mountain Ambush

by Andrew Cockburn,

"Looking at the detailed Russian timeline of what happened," says defense analyst Pierre Sprey, "I'd say the evidence looks pretty strong that the Turks were setting up an ambush."

Money Trail

by Andrew Cockburn,

“We spent 36 million dollars on a building that was totally built, never used, and has been turned over to the Afghans. As far as we know, it’s empty.”

Do-gooders

by Christopher Cox,

“The amazing thing about these people is that they are living as they believe they ought to. Imagine being able to say that!”

Permission to Speak Frankly

by Wyatt Mason,

“By committing to the great emotional extremes demanded by Greek tragedy,” says Bryan Doerries, author of The Theater of War, “the actors are in effect saying to the audience: 'If you want to match our emotional intensity, that would be fine.'”

Before the War

by Andrew Cockburn, Alex Potter,

The roots of the conflict in Yemen—a discussion between Washington Editor Andrew Cockburn and Sanaa-based political analyst Abdul-Ghani Al Iryani, with photographs by Alex Potter.

On Death

by Clancy Martin, Adam Baer,

"I think that the would-be suicide needs, more than anything else, to talk to a person like you, who has had to fight for life."

Cuckoo Spit and Ski Jumps

by Christopher Cox,

Michael Paterniti discusses “Driving Mr. Albert,” a story he wrote for Harper’s, in 1997, about driving across America with Albert Einstein’s brain.

Absent Victims

by Joshua Jelly-Schapiro,

Joshua Oppenheimer, the director of The Act of Killing, discusses his follow-up documentary, The Look of Silence, about those who survived the Indonesian genocide of 1965

Discussing the “Radical Otherness” of Israel with Frédéric Brenner

by Sam Cate-Gumpert,

"Only such a spectrum of perspectives could really do justice to the complexities and to the fact that Israel is totally un-understandable."

Ken Silverstein’s The Secret World of Oil

by Hardy Calvert,

On the endemic corruption of the global oil industry

The Black-Eyed Blonde: A Conversation with John Banville

by Christopher Cox,

John Banville on Raymond Chandler, literary inhabitation, and the stylish prose of dishwasher instruction manuals

The Prisoner: A Conversation with Omar Shahid Hamid

by Matthieu Aikins,

Omar Shahid Hamid on novelizing Karachi's cops and gangsters

Living with a Wild God: A Conversation with Barbara Ehrenreich

by Ryann Liebenthal,

Barbara Ehrenreich on writing, social activism, and the possible existence of a mystical Other

Darling: A Conversation with Richard Rodriguez

by Emily Stokes,

Richard Rodriguez on the essay as biography of an idea, the relationship between gay men’s liberation and women’s liberation, and the writerly impulse to give away secrets

Snoop Snoop Song: A Conversation with Glenn Greenwald

by Alex Mierjeski,

Glenn Greenwald on the importance of privacy, the hypocrisy of Democrats, and how he almost lost the NSA leak

(One Generation) Beyond Good and Evil: A Conversation with Rebecca Makkai

by Davis Schneiderman,

Rebecca Makkai on reconciling family history in writing

Portrait Inside My Head and To Show and To Tell

by Jeffery Gleaves,

Phillip Lopate on eclectic curiosities and the old-school essayists

A Conversation With Russell Banks

by Jesse Barron,

"[T]o be an artist . . . you really have to blast the launch pad to get liftoff, scorching everything and everyone around you, and you cause a lot of damage sometimes."

New Books: A Conversation with Zadie Smith

by Harper’s Magazine,

On February 2, 2011, Harper’s Magazine and New York University’s Creative Writing Program held a discussion between Harper’s New Books columnist Zadie Smith and Reviews editor Gemma Sieff. The following…

Conversation

From the Archive

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To Know the Disease

Northern Aggression

So Goes Hodeida, So Goes Yemen

Slow Crash

Eating Right

Unofficial Stories

Murky Waters

Lincoln’s Party

Unjust Cause

Burn Pits

Choosing Words

Mountain Ambush

Money Trail

Do-gooders

Permission to Speak Frankly

Before the War

On Death

Cuckoo Spit and Ski Jumps

Absent Victims

Discussing the “Radical Otherness” of Israel with Frédéric Brenner

Ken Silverstein’s The Secret World of Oil

The Black-Eyed Blonde: A Conversation with John Banville

The Prisoner: A Conversation with Omar Shahid Hamid

Living with a Wild God: A Conversation with Barbara Ehrenreich

Darling: A Conversation with Richard Rodriguez

Snoop Snoop Song: A Conversation with Glenn Greenwald

(One Generation) Beyond Good and Evil: A Conversation with Rebecca Makkai

Portrait Inside My Head and To Show and To Tell

A Conversation With Russell Banks

New Books: A Conversation with Zadie Smith

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