The Whitney Biennial Isn’t As Bad as It Looks
But it sure does make a poor first impression.
Barry SchwabskyCampaigns and Elections
Summer Lee Is Exactly What a Democrat Should Be
A super PAC is smearing Lee as a threat to the Democratic Party as she campaigns to become the first Black woman to represent Pennsylvania in Congress.
John NicholsInequality
California’s Undocumented Children Are Going Hungry
A report shows that 45 percent of the state’s undocumented residents are facing food insecurity, mostly children.
Sasha AbramskyBooks and Ideas
Farewell to Midge Decter, the Bigot on the Beach
The obituaries for the founding mother of neoconservatism fail to give a sense of how vile her opinions really were.
Jeet HeerSpring Books
Jennifer Egan’s World Wide Web
Her latest novel tackles a favorite topic of her fiction—the excesses of the Internet and modern technologies.
Erin SomersW.E.B. Du Bois’s Abolition Democracy
The enduring legacy and capacious vision of Black Reconstruction.
Gerald HorneNijinska’s Revolutionary Vision of Dance
Lynn Garafola’s biography of the dancer and choreographer charts her globetrotting life and radical art.
Jennifer WilsonPolitics
Why Can’t Washington Break Its War Addiction?
American narcissism is only part of the answer.
William Astore
Meet the Head of Biden’s New “Disinformation Governing Board”
Nina Jankowicz is a veteran information warrior. But her “experience” working with StopFake should have set off alarm bells.
Lev Golinkin
The Hyde Amendment Is Not an Excuse to Do Nothing to Protect Abortion Rights
The federal government still has power to protect abortion rights, and it’s time the Biden administration used it.
Elie Mystal
Culture
Florine Stettheimer, Insider Artist
Barbara Bloemink’s biography paints a complicated picture of an artist whose work both celebrated and critiqued the upper echelons of early-20th-century cultural life.
Max Pearl
China's Battle for Cultural Power Begins at the Box Office
A conversation with Erich Schwartzel about the vexed relationship between Hollywood and Beijing, how movies became a vehicle for Chinese ideology, and his new book Red Carpet.
Han Zhang
Civic Engagement In an Age of Perpetual War
A conversation with Phil Klay about his new book Uncertain Ground and the moral imperatives and ambiguities of civilian life amidst constant conflict.
Noah FloraWorld
Endless War in Ukraine Hurts National and Global Security
It is vital to step back from the emotions stirred by this conflict and assess our real security priorities.
Katrina vanden Heuvel
There’s Genocide in Tigray, but Nobody’s Talking About it
The reasons range from Internet shutdowns to just pure racism.
David Volodzko
Russian Victory Day in Kyiv
Despite the sirens, and the speeches, the missiles never came.
Leif ReigstadNation Voices
Watch and Listen
Listen: David Dennis Jr. on the Movement That Made Us
Author David Dennis joins the show to talk about his new book, The Movement Made Us.
May 9, 2022
Listen: Rebecca Solnit on How People Change and Why We Care
On this week’s episode of Start Making Sense, we have discussions on forgiveness and the American Revolution.
May 4, 2022
