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Politics and government

Jet-Age Federalism

Most of the time, Americans seem to thrive on change. The meadow converted to a real-estate development is regarded less as a sacrifice to progress than a symbol of it.…

Party Whips

From incidents of violence among state and national legislators in the United States, compiled by Joanne B. Freeman in The Field of Blood. Freeman is a professor of history and…

Naked and Afraid

by Martha Nussbaum,

By Martha Nussbaum, from The Monarchy of Fear, which was published last month by Simon and Schuster. Nussbaum is a professor of law and philosophy at the University of Chicago…

As Goes the South, So Goes the Nation

by Imani Perry,

History haunts, but Alabama changes

Unmusical Chairs

by Rebecca Solnit,

It’s often forgotten that the idea of the political spectrum—of politics having a left and right—has a physical origin. It comes from the seating arrangements at the National Assembly of…

[Untitled]

by Steve Brodner,

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…

Four More Years

by Thomas Frank,

The Trump reelection nightmare and how we can stop it

Mobbed Up

by Andrew Cockburn,

How America boosts the Afghan opium trade

The Uncertainty Principle

by Walter Kirn,

The first year of the Trump presidency is behind us. The unimaginable has become the historical. But time, the reputed healer of all wounds, has somehow only aggravated this one.…

Please Clap

by Diana Bates, Ling Yuan,

From descriptions of audience applause recorded in official transcriptions of speeches by Nicolae Ceausescu. They were included in a blog post published last year by Yuan Ling, a journalist. The…