Books and Ideas

The Ethical Commitment to Be a Punk

The Ethical Commitment to Be a Punk The Ethical Commitment to Be a Punk

How 1980s punk music birthed its own kind of radical politics. 

Jan 6, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Samuel Zipp

What We Can Learn About Activism Today in the Archives of Queer History

What We Can Learn About Activism Today in the Archives of Queer History What We Can Learn About Activism Today in the Archives of Queer History

Cait McKinney’s Information Activism argues that archiving work illustrates how access to information has improved the lives of marginalized people.

Jan 5, 2021 / Books & the Arts / M. Jesuthasan

Breakfast Table With Jewish Newsletters

Breakfast Table With Jewish Newsletters Breakfast Table With Jewish Newsletters

An argument with myself.

Jan 1, 2021 / Wallace Shawn

What Can We Learn From the 1918 Pandemic?

What Can We Learn From the 1918 Pandemic? What Can We Learn From the 1918 Pandemic?

A recent history of the pandemic illuminates not just parallels with our moment but how a public health crisis can become a political one as well. 

Dec 29, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Richard J. Evans

sign reads

2020 2020

We’ve had a year, you must admit, Whose misery would just not quit. At last, we offer this obit: We’re glad to see the back of it.

Dec 29, 2020 / Column / Calvin Trillin

military leaders in the Spanish Civil War

How the Fight Over Spain’s Anti-Fascist Legacy Involves a Former ‘Nation’ Editor How the Fight Over Spain’s Anti-Fascist Legacy Involves a Former ‘Nation’ Editor

Spain’s progressive government is protecting the tomb of Julio Álvarez del Vayo, foreign minister for the Republic during the Civil War and later a Nation editor. Spain’s right win...

Dec 28, 2020 / Sebastiaan Faber and Bécquer Seguín

Somewhere Real

Somewhere Real Somewhere Real

Get in, George Eliot. I packed PB&Js. I’m bringing that rainbow parachute we held hands under as eight year olds. Get in, right beside Autumn, beside every manic pixie dream gi…

Dec 28, 2020 / Poems / Shira Erlichman

The Groundbreaking Honesty of Joe Sacco’s Comics Journalism

The Groundbreaking Honesty of Joe Sacco’s Comics Journalism The Groundbreaking Honesty of Joe Sacco’s Comics Journalism

His decades-long project of reportage in graphic form works like oral history—bearing witness to the historical traumas of his subjects.

Dec 28, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Jillian Steinhauer

Good Riddance to Robert E. Lee

Good Riddance to Robert E. Lee Good Riddance to Robert E. Lee

…and to “very fine people on both sides” apologias for Confederate infamy.

Dec 22, 2020 / John Nichols

How Should We Remember Ellis Island?

How Should We Remember Ellis Island? How Should We Remember Ellis Island?

Ellis Island: A People’s History looks at the everyday injustices that have haunted the country’s stance on immigration for centuries.

Dec 22, 2020 / Books & the Arts / J. Howard Rosier

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