The Surprising Success of an Irreverent Emily Dickinson
Here is a show that looks at Emily Dickinson—one of the greatest poets in American literature, a woman infatuated with death and dying, queer and forced to hide or kill her own desires, a near-recluse...
View ArticleRich Americans Are Interfering in Our Elections
Imagine this: One of the largest companies in Russia and the world, with billions of dollars in contracts with the Russian government, dumps $1.5 million into an American local election with the intent...
View ArticleThe Republican Plot Against the Popular Will
Democracy’s central principle is that the people should decide their own future by electing their own leaders. A growing number of conservatives disagree. Take this week’s off-year elections, for...
View ArticleThe Media Has a Right-Wing Bias. Politico’s Founder Just Admitted It.
Getting the headline right is often the hardest part. Politico took several stabs at the inaugural entry of John F. Harris’s new column, “Altitude,” which aims to offer “weekly perspective on politics...
View ArticleThe Billionaire’s Burden: Running for President
The news that Michael Bloomberg is expected to file to be on the presidential ballot in Alabama was not greeted on Thursday night with explosions of public joy and gratitude. There were no street...
View ArticleTrump Has Squandered the Legacy of the Berlin Wall
Thirty years ago this weekend, a dour and rumpled East German apparatchik named Günter Schabowski faced a smattering of reporters and cameras for a press conference in East Berlin. Rifling confusedly...
View ArticleHow Giuliani Became Trump’s Chief Conspiracist
Throughout October, as Rudy Giuliani was revealed to be the linchpin in President Donald Trump’s shadow campaign to convince Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, the former New York mayor never stopped...
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The Case for Climate Hope
Climate denialism is back. For decades, denialists rejected truths about the environment: the link between carbon emissions and global warming, the human role in rising emissions, and the adequacy of...
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Far-Right Climate Denial Is Growing in Europe
In August, Miguel Medina Cabrera, a Spanish farmer on the island of Gran Canaria in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, watched the land around his farm start to burn.“The fire was burning for four days,...
View ArticleGhosts of War in a Wisconsin Forest
Every day, I start the shift by throwing on my marking gear. It’s not as heavy as my kit in Afghanistan, just an easy 40-odd pounds with the paint. Instead of a blaze orange cruiser vest like the ones...
View ArticleThe First Magistrate in Foreign Pay
To fully grasp what’s at stake in the impeachment of Donald Trump, it’s important to understand that the nation’s Founders conceived of presidential impeachment as a fundamental safeguard against...
View ArticleHigh Crimes
Article IIn his conduct while President of the United States, Donald Trump, in violation of his constitutional oath to execute faithfully the Office of President of the United States, has abused the...
View ArticleWhy Wouldn’t Michael Bloomberg Run for President?
Since it was reported last week that he would file paperwork to possibly run for president, Michael Bloomberg has been the most feverishly discussed candidate in the Democratic primary, as he likely...
View ArticleThe Quickest Way to Reduce Airplane Emissions
Greta Thunberg is stuck in the United States.The 16-year-old climate activist sailed across the Atlantic on a carbon-free yacht this summer for the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York...
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How Europe Stumped Britain’s Conservatives
Not long before Margaret Thatcher’s intensely dramatic departure from office in November 1990, the veteran Conservative politician William Whitelaw was talking to Sir Robin Butler, recently appointed...
View ArticleOligarch of the Month: Dmitry Firtash
Rudy Giuliani’s cartoonishly inept dirt-digging operation in Ukraine would not have been possible without Dmitry Firtash, the shady Ukrainian natural gas magnate who has spent at least $1 million...
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In Essays One, Lydia Davis Goes Big
Lydia Davis would begin this review simply. So I will. So I am. So I have. Which tense is right? I suppose they all are, or each might be, depending on what I mean to do here. I suppose the fact that...
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The Veterans Day Freebie Anti-PTSD Diet
Was I scamming Toby Keith, or was Toby Keith scamming me? I’m not a fan of his brand of chickenhawk-rock-inlaw country music, but I am a fan of the American Soldier burger at his restaurant—Toby...
View ArticleJulián Castro Is Right About the Democratic Primary Process
Political bravery is not often the hallmark of a Democratic presidential primary. More often, this early part of a presidential campaign is the venue for incredibly cautious, patronizing...
View ArticleThe Enduring Battle to Diversify Historical Reenactment
Imagine, for a moment, you’re about eight years old, standing in a valley strewn with tiny hills. Your mother is nearby, trying to rope in your wandering little brother. Towering over you and milling...
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