![Was Your Grandmother a Communist?—and Five More Questions for Jonathan Lethem](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/jonathan_lethem_ap_img.jpg)
Was Your Grandmother a Communist?—and Five More Questions for Jonathan Lethem Was Your Grandmother a Communist?—and Five More Questions for Jonathan Lethem
Lethem’s new novel, Dissident Gardens, involves three generations of left-wing activists in New York City.
Oct 9, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Jon Wiener
![Laramie Revisited: The Myth of Matthew](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/matthew_shepard_mourners_ap_0.jpg)
Laramie Revisited: The Myth of Matthew Laramie Revisited: The Myth of Matthew
A new book by Stephen Jimenez tells a very different story about the killing of Matthew Shepard by Aaron McKinney.
Oct 9, 2013 / Books & the Arts / JoAnn Wypijewski
![Health Care Reformageddon](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/tomtomorrow20131028_img.jpg)
Health Care Reformageddon Health Care Reformageddon
Oct 9, 2013 / Tom Tomorrow
![The GOP’s Southern Strategy](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/texas_map_ap_img_0.jpg)
The GOP’s Southern Strategy The GOP’s Southern Strategy
As the Republican Party becomes whiter and more Southern, obstructionist tactics are inevitable.
Oct 9, 2013 / Ari Berman
![President Obama and ‘The Onion’ Unite on Changing the Redskins’ Name](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/redskins_football_ap_img.jpg)
President Obama and ‘The Onion’ Unite on Changing the Redskins’ Name President Obama and ‘The Onion’ Unite on Changing the Redskins’ Name
President Obama told AP he’d “think about changing” any name “that was offending a sizable group of people.”
Oct 9, 2013 / Dave Zirin
![The Notorious Life of a Nineteenth-Century Abortionist](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/madame_restell_pd_img.jpg)
The Notorious Life of a Nineteenth-Century Abortionist The Notorious Life of a Nineteenth-Century Abortionist
Novelist Kate Manning richly reimagines Madame Restell as a defender of women from the horrors of poverty, male privilege and their own physiology.
Oct 9, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Katha Pollitt
Snapshot Snapshot
A member of the Ansar Dimachk Brigade, which operates as part of the Free Syrian Army, using an iPad in preparing to fire a homemade mortar in the village of Jobar, on the outskirts of Damascus, September 15.
Oct 9, 2013 / Mohamed Abdullah
Explaining Ted Cruz’s Behavior Explaining Ted Cruz’s Behavior
Does he have a plan that the others can’t see? Is this man as smart as the devil? Or is he, to put it in carpenter’s terms, A guy who’s a bubble off level?
Oct 9, 2013 / Column / Calvin Trillin
![Washington Finally Pays Attention to Afghanistan—for All the Wrong Reasons](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/afghanistan_casualty_dover_ap_img.jpg)
Washington Finally Pays Attention to Afghanistan—for All the Wrong Reasons Washington Finally Pays Attention to Afghanistan—for All the Wrong Reasons
Politicians are outraged over the loss of military death benefits—but not the deaths themselves.
Oct 9, 2013 / George Zornick
![President Obama Nominates Janet Yellen to Head the Federal Reserve](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/yellen_ap_hp_0.jpg)
President Obama Nominates Janet Yellen to Head the Federal Reserve President Obama Nominates Janet Yellen to Head the Federal Reserve
Amid pressure from progressive and women's right organizations, President Obama has nominated Janet Yellen to head the Federal Reserve.
Oct 9, 2013 / Sarah Arnold and NationAction