Articles

Noted. Noted.

Sara Mayeux on Newt Gingrich's attempt to shut down the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Liza Featherstone on the education justice movement and Occupy USA, Jamie Raskin on fosterin...

Dec 22, 2011 / Various Contributors

Remembering Hitchens

Remembering Hitchens Remembering Hitchens

“Christopher had a twenty-five-year adventure with The Nation that I hope was as rewarding for him as it was for us, despite the political collisions.”

Dec 22, 2011 / Victor Navasky

Russia Flag

Is the World Really Safer Without the Soviet Union? Is the World Really Safer Without the Soviet Union?

Instead of a new era of democracy, disarmament and interdependence, we have had unchecked militarism and economic crisis.

Dec 22, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Mikhail S. Gorbachev

The Soviet Union’s Afterlife

The Soviet Union’s Afterlife The Soviet Union’s Afterlife

Twenty years later, questions endure about how and why the nation abruptly dissolved.

Dec 22, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Stephen F. Cohen

Back in the USSR

Back in the USSR Back in the USSR

Ever since 1991, Russians have been looking to the Soviet past for comfort and pride.

Dec 22, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Vadim Nikitin

The Progressive Honor Roll of 2011

The Progressive Honor Roll of 2011 The Progressive Honor Roll of 2011

This holiday season, we celebrate the most inspiring activists, organizations and politicians who are fighting for the 99 percent.

Dec 22, 2011 / Feature / John Nichols

Disgrace: On Marc Hauser Disgrace: On Marc Hauser

A case of scientific misconduct at Harvard.

Dec 21, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Charles Gross

Shelf Life

Shelf Life Shelf Life

Andrew Tabler’s In the Lion's Den: An Eyewitness Account of Washington's Battle With Syria; Steven Cook’s The Struggle for Egypt: From Nasser to Tahrir Square.

Dec 21, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Frederick Deknatel

You Can’t Always Get What You Want: On Stephen King

You Can’t Always Get What You Want: On Stephen King You Can’t Always Get What You Want: On Stephen King

In 11/22/63, Stephen King conveys the horrors of American exceptionalism.

Dec 21, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Charles Taylor

L’Élan Vital L’Élan Vital

It happened when a doctorate honoris causa was awarded to a certain Lamerdière of Freiburg— Switzerland or Breisgau, who cares? Garbed in rainbow gown, he mounted the dais and barfed his Objurgation. I revile the larva, he said, the grub from which, in due course, issues the angelic butterfly only to die in the flaring of a match. I despise the silent, the tenuous, the fading. The only god is Rhombus, not the mullet, but the everlasting anti- teleological, universal thunderclap. Not that susurrus which sophists call l’élan vital. If god is word, and word is sound, this almighty bombination, for which no beginning is, no end will ever be, is unique in being both itself and everything else. Jove dies, your Excellencies, the poet’s hymn does NOT last. At this point a Jumbo jet blasted my ears and I woke.   Reprinted from The Collected Poems of Eugenio Montale, 1925–1977, translated by William Arrowsmith and edited by Rosanna Warren. Copyright © 2012 by Beth Arrowsmith, Nancy Arrowsmith and Rosanna Warren.

Dec 21, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Eugenio Montale

x