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Vol. 24 No. 4July/August 2013
Columns
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Republicans vs. Democracy in North Carolina
GOP lawmakers are trying to turn the South’s most progressive election laws into the nation’s most restrictive. But will they win the battle and lose the war? -
Must Austerity Keep Winning?
To defeat government bashing, we need public support for the middle-class emblems of higher education and housing.
Notebook
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Our Passivity Surplus
As recent calamities show, change takes empathy—plus insisting on making yourself heard. -
The Ex-Con Factor
Felony-disenfranchisement laws suppress black turnout enough to swing elections, and the future of reform is murky. -
When I'm Old and Gay
Retirement can be sweet for well-off LGBT elders, but it is fraught with perils for most.
Culture
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New Treasure in Maine
The Colby College Museum of Art reopens, ready to share its $100 million gift and quietly bold vision. -
Take Me Out with the Crowd
Can numbers-happy fantasy sports replace team play as a metaphor for the American way of living? -
George Packer's U.S.A.
The author's chronicle of solitary Americans after the financial crash is nostalgic—but for what, exactly? -
Agee, Before He Was Famous
Can a rediscovered first draft of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men speak more directly to our time than the finished masterpiece? -
The North Wing
The Danish series Borgen is a huge hit in Europe. Will its mixture of raw politics, social democratic ideals, and human frailties succeed in the U.S.? -
If Pot Becomes Legal
What will become of its secretive California hometown?
Features
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Los Infiltradores
How three young undocumented activists risked everything to expose the injustices of immigrant detention—and invented a new form of protest. -
The Withered Writ
Habeas corpus, the age-old means for prisoners to challenge their detention, has never been more restricted than it is now. -
L.A. Story
The Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy: a new model for American liberalism? -
Fashioning Justice for Bangladesh
Western multinationals are behind disasters like the Bangladesh factory collapse. Will public outrage and a new labor agreement lead to improvements for workers? -
What's Killing Poor White Women?
For most Americans, life expectancy continues to rise—but not for uneducated white women. They have lost five years, and no one knows why.
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Vol. 24 No. 3May/June 2013
Columns
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Bad Faith and Budget Politics
Obama has to do business with people who cannot be trusted to own up to their side of a deal. -
Ted Talk
The Tea Party doesn't expect its politicians to get things done; it sends them to Washington to previent things from being done.
Notebook
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The New New Haven
How a union of Yale employees aligned itself with community activists and won control of a beleaguered city.
Culture
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When It Comes to Kindles, Do You "Like" or Unlink?
Social reading will bring us together while restoring a long tradition in the history of the book. Still … -
Greta Gerwig, Dancing with Herself
The anti-celebrity of the Frances Ha star -
Sheryl Sandberg’s Can-Do Feminism
Why she’s a reformer in the church of meritocracy and not a heretic -
The New Deal That Could Have Been
How the white-supremacist South made possible the New Deal—and drastically curtailed it. -
Rediscovering Albert Hirschman
Resistance fighter. Development economist. Philosopher. A new biography of the thinker who redeemed political economy for liberals.
Special Report
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Children of Color in the Persistent Downturn
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The Wealthy Kids Are All Right
In a tough economy with dwindling social supports, children of privilege have a bigger head start than ever. -
Children of the Great Collapse
The stimulus was great for poor kids while it lasted. Now even bare-bones aid is at risk. -
The Millennial Squeeze
It's not Social Security deficits that are destroying the life chances of the young but a prolonged slump confounded by bad policies. -
Cascading Effects of Parental Stress
Economic hardship reverberates through the family in multiple ways that harm children. -
A Shredded Safety Net
Features
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A River Runs Through It
Everyone agrees that the only way to fix the Gulf of Mexico dead zone—the largest off the United States—is to fix the Mississippi, but not everyone agrees how. -
The End of the Solid South
The region's emerging majority is progressive. Its capitols are more conservative than ever. Something's got to give. -
Can Obama's Organizing Army Take Texas?
Progressive Texans just might lead a Democratic revival in the ultimate red state. Here's how. -
North Carolina's Tug-of-War
What happens when a state becomes more progressive and more conservative at the same time? -
Virginia's New Dominion
How soon will changing demographics swamp old Virginia's Republicans? -
Ghosts of the Rio Grande
Every year hundreds of immigrants die along the U.S.-Mexico border. Too many are never identified.
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Vol. 24 No. 2March/April 2013
Columns
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Republicans for Election Reform?
This year, policies to expand voting may pass not only in blue states like New York but also on Republican-controlled turf. -
When Public Is Better
The problem is not too much government, but too passive a government.
Notebook
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Outmatched
Conservatives’ support for state-based think tanks is paying off in regressive legislation. Liberals are scrambling to keep up. -
The People’s Bank
How did deep-red North Dakota end up with the nation’s most populist financial institution?
Culture
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It's All in the Game
House of Cards is irresistible, but by insisting that corruption, not fanaticism, is poisoning Washington, the series feels dated. -
Limbaugh Doubles Down
Post-election, conservative radio gives hints of wanting to change. Its leader still stands in the way. -
Data Comes to the Culture Wars
A sociologist runs the numbers on charges of liberal campus bias. -
Goodbye, Petraeus
The general’s gone, but a new book on his big idea is essential for the coming defense debates. -
Country Noir
Frank Bill and the new violent Midwestern fiction -
Social Climate Change
Emily Bazelon's look at how bullying—once known as "kids will be kids"—came to be seen as a crisis.
Features
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Retrench Warfare
The Democrats won this round of the fiscal-cliff standoff, but now let’s get to the right debate. -
Born This Way?
Transgender activists believe that when children insist their birth sex is the wrong sex, their wishes should be honored. Dr. Kenneth Zucker disagrees. -
The Once and Future Gov
Two years into his second go-round as governor, Jerry Brown has—to the surprise of many—turned California around. -
The Fundamentals of Immigration Reform
To begin fixing America’s broken system, we must be guided by both our highest values and our economic needs. -
U.S. Out of Vermont!
Move over, Texas: In the Green Mountain State, it’s leftists who want to secede. -
The Weeklies
In the Denver suburbs, as in much of the U.S., the Great Recession turned formerly stable families into the new homeless—and left many living in budget hotels.
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Vol. 24 No. 1February 2013
Columns
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Did Republicans Lose the Election?
The 2012 election awarded us a peculiar form of coalition government. Will it hinder Dems as they pursue their ambitious agenda? -
Where the Wingers Won
The 2012 election's progressive victories didn't stem the tide of conservatives flooding state legislatures.
Notebook
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Red to Purple to Blue
America's electoral map has changed to the Democrats' advantage—and it's going to change a whole lot more. -
Alt-Labor
Nonunion workers’ groups are gathering strength across the country. But will they ever make the kind of impact that traditional labor once did?
Culture
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The Past, Reclaimed from Right-Wing Myth
Now can we get to work saving the future? -
Intelligence Squared U.S.'s Talking Heads
A reporter checks out a live taping of the cult podcast hit, whose new season starts tonight. -
Camelot’s Begetter
Besides being the father of John, Bobby, and Teddy, Joe Kennedy left behind a tattered legacy. -
When Assad Dropped the Façade
It's hard to believe, but Bashar al-Assad once presented himself to the world as Syria's modernizer. -
Zero Dark Thirty: Homeland's Prequel?
In both cultural depictions, September 11 is a wound that never heals.
Special Report
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What Democracy Lost in 2012
No matter the outcome, big money and voter suppression crippled the election. This is no way to run the world’s oldest democracy. -
Making Voting Constitutional
Our governing document creates no right to vote. It’s time it did. -
How to Vote Down Voter ID
Minnesotans defeat the GOP’s plan to restrict the franchise.
Features
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The President's Running Room—and Ours
With Republicans divided, the president could open up space to move progressive policies. First, the progressive community needs to move him. -
Obama's Second-Term BFD Agenda
The president has a new opportunity for immigration reform, old business to finish on health care, and fateful decisions to make about energy and climate. -
New Voters, New Values
Women, Latinos, African Americans, and the young don’t believe what older white men believe. Their views fueled Obama’s victory and may portend a new Democratic majority.
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Vol. 23 No. 8December 2012
Columns
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Schools in the Crosshairs
Starry-eyed education reformers have found yet another panacea for saving public education: parent-trigger laws.
Notebook
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Afghanistan Sketches
Illustrator Victor Juhasz spent three weeks in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Here, a sampling of his work. -
The Collapse of Black Wealth
Prince George’s County was a symbol of African American prosperity. Then came the housing crisis.
Culture
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The Best of David Foster Wallace
When the novelist learned to escape his own mind, he got a little closer to the greatness he sought. -
The Measure of All Things
How markets beat out citizenship to define our public life -
Abe, Daniel ... and Henry
Before Daniel Day-Lewis played Lincoln, another actor's portrayal was legendary. On Henry Fonda's forgotten greatness. -
CSI: David Byrne
An investigation of music’s power by one of its great polymaths -
Want Less Inequality? Tax It
Revive the big idea of British economist Arthur C. Pigou! And apply it to America's most outrageous problem.
Features
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Greedy Geezers, Reconsidered
In the current downturn, the vast majority of the elderly are suffering along with the young. The right cure would help both generations. -
Pre-K on the Range
Rural, conservative, impoverished Oklahoma has built the nation’s brightest model for early education. -
I Was a Teenage Conservative
For a young Southern Californian coming of age in the early ’60s, the right with its emphasis on individual freedom was enormously appealing. What better way to rebel against liberal smugness? Then, the right betrayed itself. -
Organize Every Precinct
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Joel Klein's Misleading Autobiography
What the former chancellor of New York City schools' sleight of hand tells us about education reform -
Seeing Is Believing
Eyewitness testimony is unreliable and leads to wrongful convictions. Why has the judicial system not taken note? -
A Strategic Plan for Liberals
What’s the road map for a progressive future?
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