A Shack of One’s Own Thanks to Wes Enzinna [“Gimme Shelter,” Letter from California, December], I finally understand why millennials hate baby boomers. In many ways, my own experience has…
The Fall of Men Barrett Swanson’s take on Evryman retreats and the “new men’s groups” [“Men at Work,” Report, November] is understandably skeptical. As a veteran of several of these…
Lost Clauses The participants in the Forum on the Constitution [“Constitution in Crisis,” October] offer wonderful insights. However, they do not sufficiently celebrate the Constitution’s virtues—nor do they address its…
Why We Fight War with Iran, writes Kevin Baker, would “make our war in Vietnam look like a walk in the park” [“The Deep State of Dementia,” Easy Chair, September].…
In Memoriam We at Harper’s Magazine are deeply saddened by the untimely death of our former contributing editor Edwin Dobb. He wrote many essays for the magazine, including “Pennies from…
Socialism and Barbarism According to Aaron Lake Smith, who discusses the works of Vasily Grossman alongside my biography of the writer [“The Trials of Vasily Grossman,” Reviews, July], my book…
Visible Hands Marilynne Robinson’s essay [“Is Poverty Necessary?” June] describes the quest for understanding that drove her to study the great political economists, culminating in her discovery of the contributions…
Back to the Future I found Kevin Baker’s piece on the historical antecedents of the Green New Deal [“Where Our New World Begins,” Essay, May] perhaps the best essay I’ve…
Brexit Wounds On the matter of Britain’s membership in the European Union, which Lionel Shriver discussed in her fascinating recent column [“No Exit,” Easy Chair, April], I am a reluctant…
Sport for Joe Andrew Cockburn’s portrayal of Joe Biden’s legislative career was seriously distorted [“No Joe!,” Letter from Washington, March]. As Biden’s European policy adviser on the Senate Foreign Relations…
Crimes and Misdemeanors I agree with Lionel Shriver’s assertion that the complete cultural banishment to which perceived sexual offenders are sometimes subjected is harsh, and mindlessly so [“Cruel and Unusual…
A View from Afar Michel Houellebecq’s praise of Trump is a timely send-up of decades of American triumphalism, which seems to be imploding under its own weight [“Donald Trump Is…
A Question of Identity Mychal Denzel Smith’s essay about black public intellectuals is a nuanced examination of a complex dilemma [“The Gatekeepers,” Essay, December]. At one point, Smith expresses guilt…
State of Mind As a solution to conservatives’ stranglehold on federal politics, Jonathan Taplin posits a progressive federalism, under which environmental, economic, civil rights, and other reforms are undertaken by…
Give Love a Bad Name? John Hockenberry asserts early in his essay that millions of women have reexamined their sexual lives “looking for evidence of victimization” [“Exile,” Memoir, October]. This…
Get Up, Stand Up It was heartening to read Garret Keizer condemn the fact that labor leaders “turned their backs” on Bernie Sanders’s candidacy in 2016 and willfully scorned their…
Basket of Implausibles The assertions in Walter Kirn’s “Illiberal Values,” especially his critique of liberals’ sudden confidence in this country’s intelligence agencies, are eminently reasonable [Easy Chair, August]. But my…
Death and Taxes Kevin Baker’s essay about New York is a comprehensive catalogue of the symptoms of overdevelopment affecting the city today [“The Death of a Once Great City,” Report,…
What Is It Good For? The earnest ruminations of military experts, convened at West Point by Harper’s Magazine, about our “endless war” never once addressed how to actually bring about…
All of us at Harper’s Magazine deeply mourn the death of our longtime friend and contributing editor Tom Wolfe (1930–2018). Some of his most influential writings were published in this…
Great Pains Elizabeth Royte’s report about a water crisis in rural Kansas reflects the reality that federal regulations place a disproportionate burden on small businesses and towns [“Drinking Problems,” Letter…
Fool Me Once Thomas Frank is right: the Trump reelection nightmare could happen [“Four More Years,” Essay, April]. But I believe it is crucial that we not ignore fundamental truths.…
Things We Can Do Without Katie Roiphe ignores the fact that gender inequality is a psychological condition, not just a material one [“The Other Whisper Network,” Essay, March]. She dismisses…
The Braindead Megaphone “The Other Whisper Network” [Essay, March] is a rehash of Katie Roiphe’s decades-old argument that women are prone to hysterical overreactions to male sexual behavior. In the…
Where to from Here? My husband and I recognize that we owe a great debt to the LGBT generations of the past, but with social acceptance and the freedom to…
A Seat at the Table Theodore Postol suggests that a swarm of defensive drones hovering over the Sea of Japan might force Kim Jong-un to the bargaining table [“Destroyer of…
Cut Too Deep In “Monumental Error” [Essay, November], J. C. Hallman unfairly skewers J. Marion Sims, the “Father of Gynecology.” He attributes to Sims a huge ego and the desire for…
Kingdom Come Andrew Cockburn [“Crime and Punishment,” Letter from Washington, October] draws much-needed attention to Saudi Arabia’s deceitful lobbying campaign to derail the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA),…
Book Collective Jonathan Dee’s reflections on the status of the social novel are a welcome critique of contemporary writing, but his argument is compromised by an elision in his survey…
Green the Vote Richard Manning profiles the Democratic officeholders in Western states who are leading the fight for progressive environmental policies [“Political Climbers,” Report, August]. Manning believes that a pro-conservation…