History

John G. Roberts (left), Chief Justice and chief critic of the Voting Rights Act.

Voting Rights and the Second Redemption Voting Rights and the Second Redemption

Ari Berman’s Give Us the Ballot argues that democratic rights can never be taken for granted.

Dec 3, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Eric Foner

A student shows signs made for a sit-in to demand a range of changes to improve the social and academic experience of black students, at Princeton University, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015, in Princeton, N.J.

Woodrow Wilson, Princeton, and the Complex Landscape of Race Woodrow Wilson, Princeton, and the Complex Landscape of Race

The debates over Wilson’s legacy ought to push us to initiate even broader conversations about the presence and power of the past in daily life.

Dec 1, 2015 / Martha A. Sandweiss

Svetlana Alexievich in Minsk, Belarus, October 8, 2015, after she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Conductor of the Anonymous Conductor of the Anonymous

In her oral histories, Svetlana Alexievich orchestrates the voices of Russians trying to reconcile the irreconciliable.

Nov 25, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Sophie Benech

Linda Rosenkrantz with her tape recorder, 1965.

Real, Realist, Realistic, and False Real, Realist, Realistic, and False

Linda Rosenkrantz’s 1968 quasi-novel Talk reminds us that wry self-awareness and anxious fragility are hardly millennial inventions.

Nov 25, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Becca Rothfeld

Ben Carson Isn’t the Only US Politician With a Hand in Shady Latin American Dealings

Ben Carson Isn’t the Only US Politician With a Hand in Shady Latin American Dealings Ben Carson Isn’t the Only US Politician With a Hand in Shady Latin American Dealings

Duane Clarridge’s Iran/Contra history is horrifying—but it’s no worse than Hillary Clinton’s record in Colombia.

Nov 25, 2015 / Greg Grandin

Don’t Be So Quick to Defend Woodrow Wilson

Don’t Be So Quick to Defend Woodrow Wilson Don’t Be So Quick to Defend Woodrow Wilson

It would be a grave mistake to ignore the link between Wilson’s white supremacy at home and his racist militarism abroad.

Nov 24, 2015 / Greg Grandin

“At certain times of the day,” wrote Karl Kraus, in a critique of the mass media taken up by Walter Benjamin, “a particular quantity of work has to have been procured and prepared for the machine.”

Nothing Remains Unchanged but the Clouds Nothing Remains Unchanged but the Clouds

With his worries about the gigantic power of technology and the minuscule moral illumination it can afford, Walter Benjamin remains our contemporary.

Nov 18, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Neima Jahromi

Sheldon Wolin speaks with Bill Moyers in 2008.

Sheldon Wolin, 1922–2015 Sheldon Wolin, 1922–2015

The late scholar and Nation contributor brought left-leaning political philosophy to the fore.

Oct 30, 2015 / Richard Kreitner

October 30, 1885: Ezra Pound Is Born

October 30, 1885: Ezra Pound Is Born October 30, 1885: Ezra Pound Is Born

“There is no reason why poetry should not be so perplexingly simple as Mr. Pound’s, and be about nothing at all.”

Oct 30, 2015 / Richard Kreitner

Ester Dean (left) and B.o.B. perform at CinemaCon, March 27, 2014.

It’s an Old Trope, but How Well Does the Factory Model Explain Pop Music? It’s an Old Trope, but How Well Does the Factory Model Explain Pop Music?

A new book about the music industry misses the fact that we’ve already entered the post-industrial age.

Oct 29, 2015 / Books & the Arts / David Hajdu

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