History

It’s Time for the Democrats to Throw Off the Dead Hand of Clintonism

It’s Time for the Democrats to Throw Off the Dead Hand of Clintonism It’s Time for the Democrats to Throw Off the Dead Hand of Clintonism

More than 20 years after Bill Clinton left office, Democrats remain in the grips of his New Democrat politics. That’s a serious problem.

Feb 13, 2025 / Feature / Lily Geismer

The Making and Remaking of Karl Marx’s  “Capital”

The Making and Remaking of Karl Marx’s “Capital” The Making and Remaking of Karl Marx’s “Capital”

In the first English translation in half a century, Paul Reitter and Paul North distill the essence of the Marxist masterpiece by going back to basics.

Feb 10, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Alyssa Battistoni

A comic by Jules Feiffer

Devastating Empathy: Jules Feiffer, 1929–2025 Devastating Empathy: Jules Feiffer, 1929–2025

The cartoonist and writer proved that the deadliest skewering is informed by understanding.

Jan 30, 2025 / Obituary / Jeet Heer

Mikhail Lermontov's “Memory of Caucasus,” 1838.

The Reckless Creation of Whiteness The Reckless Creation of Whiteness

In The Unseen Truth, Sarah Lewis examines how an erroneous 18th-century story about the “Caucasian race” led to a centuries of prejudice and misapprehension.

Jan 29, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Erin L. Thompson

A Listener’s Guide to Jazz From 1964–1972

A Listener’s Guide to Jazz From 1964–1972 A Listener’s Guide to Jazz From 1964–1972

A selection of the best recorded examples of the otherwise mostly undocumented music heard in jazz clubs like Slugs’.

Jan 14, 2025 / Feature / Ethan Iverson

Jazz Off the Record

Jazz Off the Record Jazz Off the Record

In the late 1960s, the recording industry lost interest in America’s greatest art form. But in a small, dark club on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, jazz legends were ...

Jan 14, 2025 / Feature / Ethan Iverson

The Nation’s Early Experiments in Jazz

The Nation’s Early Experiments in Jazz The Nation’s Early Experiments in Jazz

When the magazine began covering jazz in the 1920s, it often struggled to catch the beat.

Jan 14, 2025 / Richard Kreitner

Men imprisoned at the Mafanta Prison peer out at the world. In 2016, Sierra Leone’s Human Rights Commission decried the squalor and lack of rehabilitative programs as “inhumane.”

The Legacy of the British Legal System Continues to Inflict Misery in Sierra Leone The Legacy of the British Legal System Continues to Inflict Misery in Sierra Leone

Decades after independence, colonial-era laws have created a mass-incarceration crisis in Sierra Leone as poor citizens are thrown into prison for the smallest offenses.

Dec 19, 2024 / Feature / Mara Kardas-Nelson

Auctioning Off Judaism’s Past

Auctioning Off Judaism’s Past Auctioning Off Judaism’s Past

As the collections of Sir Moses Montefiore and David Solomon Sassoon go under the hammer today, what's the future for rare books and historic artifacts in the age of generative AI...

Dec 18, 2024 / David Brodsky

David Montgomery in a picket line during a 1955 UE strike.

David Montgomery and the Vitality of Labor History David Montgomery and the Vitality of Labor History

From his first book to his landmark account of the politics of the pre-WWI labor movement, Montgomery explored how people’s experiences of work shaped their political horizons.

Dec 17, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Kim Phillips-Fein

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