Change the Debate
Obama must stop searching for common ground—and start defining higher ground.
Print Magazine
August 29-September 5, 2011 Issue
Cover art by: Cover design by Milton Glaser Incorporated
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Editorial
Subprime Contagion
Is America finally learning that extreme inequality isn't just bad for those at the bottom—it’s ruinous for those on top, too?
Downgrading Democracy
When Congress, the president and the media run roughshod over popular will and citizen action, small-d democracy pays the price.
Letters
Letters
Vouching for vouchers; Elizabeth Warren for president; three kinds of Republican idiots; Borgesian grammar
Feature
Europe’s Turn to the Right
What is the link between the Norway killer’s actions and the ideas he espoused?
Can Teachers Alone Overcome Poverty? Steven Brill Thinks So
The journalist blames teachers unions, not economic inequality, for students’ failure to achieve.
Rethinking Politics in the Classroom
We need a mandatory course in every high school that looks at society through the lens of ethics and morality, rather than efficiency and productivity.
In a Motel Room in Chandler, Arizona
En route to Los Angeles during the quake, the author finds himself in Arizona, watching the tsunami unfold on TV.
A Man-Made Disaster
3/11 will go down in history as a day that fundamentally changed the environment of modern Japan.
Canaries in the Coal Mine
After 3/11, there is no way we can go back to how things used to be.
Self-Restraint
The response by the Japanese people to the quake fills the author with pride—and great concern.
Restoring the Time Capsule
For those who grew up in Fukushima, the disaster didn't just destroy their home town, it stole their childhood memories.
Books & the Arts
Inhuman Bondage: On Slavery, Emancipation and Human Rights
Robin Blackburn's The American Crucible treats modern slavery as an international institution with national histories.
Shelf Life
On Reza Aslan’s Tablet and Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East.
Sentimentality or Honesty? On Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor is a sadly endangered type: the philosopher-statesman.
Break That Wall
Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz’s The Interrupters; Raul Ruiz’s Mysteries of Lisbon; Jon Favreu’s Cowboys and Aliens; David Yates&rsq...
