National characteristics

Forget About It

by Corey Robin,

In the uneasy months following 9/11, the Bush Administration provoked a minor controversy when it announced the name of a new office dedicated to protecting the United States from terrorism…

Destroyer of Worlds

by Elaine Scarry, Eric Schlosser, Lydia Millet, Mohammed Hanif, Rachel Bronson, Theodore Postol,

Taking stock of our nuclear present

Brussels Spleen

by Charles Baudelaire, Translated by Richard Sieburth,

From an outline for a book Charles Baudelaire planned to write on Belgium, where he lived from 1864 until shortly before his death, in 1867. The outline is published in…

A Brief Period of Rejoicing

by Geoff Dyer,

Never mind the European meltdown, here’s the Olympics!

American Nationalism

by John Lukacs,

Don’t mention the war

by Harper’s Staff,

The Naughts

by Roger D. Hodge,

This essay appears as the introduction to Submersion Journalism: Reporting in the Radical First Person from Harper’s Magazine, to be published this month by the New Press. Hodge is the…

11. The National Character

by Earl Shorris,

From the Forum “Undoing Bush” The undoing of the American character has a long history. It took more than half a century from a summer’s day in August, when the…

Gendered Like Beckham

Translated by Christopher Glazek,

The Russian Soul, Over Cocktails

by Bill Thomas,

Who and What is American?

by Lewis H. Lapham,

The things we continue to hold in common