The Nation’s 150th Anniversary

The Nation’s 150th Anniversary

From groundbreaking investigative journalism, to cutting cultural commentary, to unmatched political analysis, there’s a lot to celebrate.

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This year marks The Nation’s 150th anniversary, and we’ve got big plans to celebrate. We published a quintuple-length special issue, and there will be an Oscar-winning filmmaker’s documentary, daily excerpts from our 150-year-old archive, a college tour, and celebratory events live-streamed from cities coast to coast.

Explore Our History

Since its founding in 1865, The Nation has been a home for writers instigating, reporting on, and arguing about struggles for social and economic justice. We have held fast to our “Nation Ideals”— from racial justice to feminism, from a fair economy to civil liberties, from environmental sustainability to peace and disarmament—throughout our 150-year history. During our anniversary year, TheNation.com is highlighting one Nation Ideal every month or two. We’ll celebrate by asking prominent contemporary Nation voices to read and respond to important pieces from our archive. And we’re offering “Radical Histories”—interactive multimedia timelines that present the history of each Ideal, complete with archival photographs and video, as well as links to Nation coverage of important speeches, demonstrations, movement victories, and more.

Join us throughout the year for every Nation Ideal!

Racial Justice & Civil Rights: Radical Histories Part I (1865-1919), Part II (1919-1956), Part III (1957-1968), Part IV (1968-1990), Part V (1991-2015), plus Mychal Denzel Smith on James Baldwin

Gender, Sex, & Feminism: Radical Histories Part I (1851-1960) and Part II (1960-2014), plus Michelle Chen on the 1926 campaign for “Wages for Wives” and Dani McClain on the 1989 special issue on “Scapegoating the Black Family.”

A Sustainable Future: The Radical Histories timeline, plus Zoë Carpenter asks “In 1970, Environmentalism Was Poised to Bring Us All Together. What Happened?

A Fair Economy for All: The Radical Histories timeline, plus Sabeel Rahman on progressive economics for the new Gilded Age, Bryce Covert on feminism and capitalism, and Frances Fox Piven contributes a new introduction to her 1966 piece “A Strategy to End Poverty.”

Instigating Ideas

Waging Peace

Labor Solidarity

Protecting Our Freedoms

Take a guided tour through 150 years of Nation archives! On January 1, TheNation.com launched a new feature called The Almanac, a 365-day compendium of how America’s oldest weekly magazine has covered important people and events of the last 150 years. Highlighting a significant event from each day in history, The Almanac offers an alternative view of world history as seen through the eyes of Nation writers and editors. You can sign up to receive The Almanac in your inbox here.

Join Our Live Events

We’re planning anniversary events in twelve cities around the country! Find out if we’re coming to your city.

The Nation has been at the forefront of American politics and culture since it was created by anti-slavery abolitionists four months after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. From groundbreaking investigative journalism, to cutting cultural commentary, to unmatched political analysis, there’s a lot to celebrate as we continue to push for the change needed today more than ever. We hope you’ll join us throughout this year of celebration.

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

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