Books and Ideas

Sherrod Brown: Three decades of talking about the dignity of work wasn’t enough to save him.

How the American Left Became Conservative How the American Left Became Conservative

Against the radical, if reactionary, experiment run from the White House, everyone from Democratic leaders in Congress to MSNBC hosts have turned to the defense of institutions.

Mar 18, 2025 / Michael Kazin

Trump Took Over the Kennedy Center, but Silencing the Arts Will Not Be So Easy

Trump Took Over the Kennedy Center, but Silencing the Arts Will Not Be So Easy Trump Took Over the Kennedy Center, but Silencing the Arts Will Not Be So Easy

Our last best hope for sharing, shaping, and wrangling over independent ideas may turn out to be America’s scrappy and disparate arts spaces—if they can hang on financially.

Mar 18, 2025 / Alisa Solomon

A view of the Butano Redwood Canyon in Pescadero, California, 2011.

Why “The Living Mountain” Endures Why “The Living Mountain” Endures

Nan Shepard’s classic of nature writing and memoir is an education in how to reorient one's attention to a landscape and its lifeforms, human and nonhuman.

Mar 13, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Jenny Odell

Andrée Blouin’s Revolutionary Lives

Andrée Blouin’s Revolutionary Lives Andrée Blouin’s Revolutionary Lives

The African political leader’s autobiography, My Country, Africa, also offers a larger story of empire, oppression, and resistance on the continent.

Mar 12, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Bill Fletcher Jr.

The Making of a Cold War Spy

The Making of a Cold War Spy The Making of a Cold War Spy

The life and work of Frank Wisner, one of the CIA’s founding officers, offers us a portrait of American intelligence’s excesses.

Mar 11, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Adam Hochschild

Are Men OK?

Are Men OK? Are Men OK?

According to Richard V. Reeves, American society is failing to address the needs of men and boys. Are his solutions the flip side of feminism—or just another form of backlash?

Mar 11, 2025 / Feature / Eamon Whalen

Letters Icon

Letters From the April 2025 Issue Letters From the April 2025 Issue

Come gather ’round, people… Constitutional machinations… Executive removal (online only)…

Mar 11, 2025 / Our Readers and Eric Foner

Nation Poetry

Kakakin Kakakin

Mar 11, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Hussain Ahmed

Nation Poetry

The B-Sides of the “Golden Record,” Track Eleven: “How Will You Begin?” The B-Sides of the “Golden Record,” Track Eleven: “How Will You Begin?”

Mar 11, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Sumita Chakraborty

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk joins President Donald Trump during an executive order signing in the Oval Office at the White House on February 11, 2025, in Washington, DC.

The Ballad of Elon Musk The Ballad of Elon Musk

Mar 11, 2025 / Column / Calvin Trillin

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