Non-fiction

Inside the Birth of a Trump-Inspired Intellectual Magazine

Inside the Birth of a Trump-Inspired Intellectual Magazine Inside the Birth of a Trump-Inspired Intellectual Magazine

Reading through American Affairs, one gets the sense that avoiding policy questions is as much a strategy as a politics.

Apr 19, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Gideon Lewis-Kraus

What America’s 19th-Century Reformers and Radicals Missed

What America’s 19th-Century Reformers and Radicals Missed What America’s 19th-Century Reformers and Radicals Missed

A new book on the antebellum period captures the dangers of confusing self-improvement with institutional change.

Apr 18, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Brenda Wineapple

The Crisis of the Liberal Order and Pankaj Mishra’s ‘Age of Anger’

The Crisis of the Liberal Order and Pankaj Mishra’s ‘Age of Anger’ The Crisis of the Liberal Order and Pankaj Mishra’s ‘Age of Anger’

Fundamental reformation is required, if we are to do better than the world he describes.

Apr 6, 2017 / Patrick Lawrence

Is Our Common Humanity a Discovery or an Invention?

Is Our Common Humanity a Discovery or an Invention? Is Our Common Humanity a Discovery or an Invention?

A new book offers a panoramic view of how we came to recognize each other as equals.

Apr 6, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Michael Walzer

declaration of independence painting by John Trumbull

What Did Equality Mean for the Founders? What Did Equality Mean for the Founders?

Three new books on the early republic explore the critical, if contested, role equality has played in shaping American political culture.

Apr 5, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Sophia Rosenfeld

Letters Icon

Letters From the April 17, 2017, Issue Letters From the April 17, 2017, Issue

For the public, not profit… Russia’s a touchy subject… Book learning: Hitler and the labor movement…

Mar 30, 2017 / Our Readers

The Red Emigrant

The Red Emigrant The Red Emigrant

For Isaac Deutscher, exile helped him discover his real community—the internationalist left.

Mar 30, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Bruce Robbins

The Ambiguous Legacy of Obama’s Foreign Policy

The Ambiguous Legacy of Obama’s Foreign Policy The Ambiguous Legacy of Obama’s Foreign Policy

He may have talked about precision and constraint when it came to the national-security state, but he ultimately failed to leave us with a new strategic vision.

Mar 23, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Karen J. Greenberg

In Brexit’s Wake

In Brexit’s Wake In Brexit’s Wake

A new book about Brexit captures the deeper crisis undergirding Britain’s bid to leave the EU.

Mar 21, 2017 / Books & the Arts / John Harris

The Serendipiter’s Journey

The Serendipiter’s Journey The Serendipiter’s Journey

Gay Talese’s eye for detail turned out to be not only his strength but also his greatest weakness.

Mar 15, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Michelle Dean

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