United States

He Was No Moses

While he opposed slavery and southern secession early in his career, as president Andrew Johnson turned out to be an unsightly bigot.

December 16, 2021 issue

Sean Wilentz

The Paradox of the American Revolution

Recent books by Woody Holton and Alan Taylor offer fresh perspectives on early US history but overemphasize the importance of white supremacy as its driving force.

January 13, 2022 issue

Jake Bernstein

Loopholes for Kleptocrats

The term “tax haven” may conjure images of Caribbean islands and palm trees, but two recent books make the case that the world’s leading tax haven is America.

December 2, 2021 issue

Colin Grant

Sins of the Fathers

In Life of a Klansman, Edward Ball’s white supremacist great-great-grandfather becomes a case study in the enduring legacy of slavery.

November 18, 2021 issue

Jason DeParle

A Historic Decrease in Poverty

The successful expansion of the safety net during the pandemic reminds us that high levels of poverty are a political choice, not a fate.

November 18, 2021 issue

Sarah Lustbader

Making Room for Forgiveness

Even if victims or their families decide to forgive, the law rarely does.

November 18, 2021 issue

David Cole

Let the Decision Stand

Every argument against Roe was squarely rejected in the Supreme Court’s 1992 Casey decision, and nothing has changed since then except the composition of the Court.

November 4, 2021 issue

Michael Greenberg

New York After Cuomo

He was a master centrist and brilliant consolidator of his own power. Who will control the state now that he’s gone?

October 7, 2021 issue

America’s Housing Crisis

A deteriorating bank-owned house, Moreno Valley, California, August 2008

Francesca Mari

The Housing Vultures

The investors who exploited the 2008 financial crisis are dictating the bailout of this one.

June 11, 2020 issue

Gabriel M. Schivone

America’s Eviction Epidemic

Across the country, millions of people are facing eviction as protections in place for the pandemic have lapsed.

September 16, 2020

Roberta Brandes Gratz

How NYC Is Zoning Out the Human Scale

This is a New York story only for now. Upzonings and transfers of newly created air rights are occurring in cities around the country. When it comes to real estate, New York City may lead the way, but others follow in time.

December 30, 2019

A view from 7 DeKalb Avenue, an apartment tower in Downtown Brooklyn. Eighty percent of its 250 apartments are subsidized units, for which there were 87,754 applications when it opened.

Michael Greenberg

Tenants Under Siege: Inside New York City’s Housing Crisis

New York City is in the throes of a humanitarian emergency. The tide of homelessness is only the most visible symptom.

August 17, 2017 issue

The Latest

Michael Tomasky

Can He Build Back Better?

Many liberals worry that the Democrats are doomed. But Biden can still rebound.

February 10, 2022 issue

Lawrence Lessig

Why the US Is a Failed Democratic State

The self-governing republic works only if it expresses the will of the majority. But one party is now committed to minoritarian rule by any means.

December 10, 2021

Alissa Quart

Anti-Rent Wars, Then and Now

Amid the 1840s economic crisis, landlords tried to drive out tenants in default. The remarkable movement that rose to challenge evictions can be a model for today’s housing activists.

October 25, 2021

Diana R. Gordon

Another Immigration Purgatory for Children

Rather than detain unaccompanied minors, the US places tens of thousands with families every year—then virtually abandons them. Detention is not good policy, but neither is neglect.

September 27, 2021

Robert L. Tsai

The New Abortion Vigilantism

The abortion bounty law is novel and thus far unique to Texas, but similar civil enforcement regimes have a much darker history.

September 23, 2021

Molly Crabapple

Occupy Memory

A decade ago, a grassroots anticapitalist movement burst on the scene, galvanizing people with its slogan “We are the 99 percent.” It changed me, and many others, but how much did it change the world?

September 16, 2021

Claudia Dreifus

‘I Walk Through My Fear’

The artist became known for her images of a circle that would be decimated by AIDS. Today, she’s using ACT UP-style activism to highlight the Sacklers’ part in the opioid crisis—and stop museums taking their money.

September 13, 2021

Jelani Cobb

A Warning Ignored

American society did exactly what the Kerner Commission on the urban riots of the mid-1960s advised against, and fifty years later reaped the consequences it predicted.

August 19, 2021 issue

Annette Gordon-Reed

The Color Line

W.E.B. Du Bois’s exhibit at the 1900 Paris Exposition offered him a chance to present a “graphical narrative” of the dramatic gains made by Black Americans since the end of slavery.

August 19, 2021 issue

Steven Simon

How Can We Neutralize the Militias?

The threat of violence from domestic far-right extremists calls for a measured and well-coordinated response from law enforcement and intelligence services.

August 19, 2021 issue