How the ACLU Started Defending the Second Amendment
The civil liberties group, which long maintained that there is no constitutional right to arms, sang a different tune at the Supreme Court this year.
Culture
Venezuelan Victims of Socialism Are Using RuneScape To Make Money
Venezuelan players mine in-game resources and turn hours of gameplay into dollars or cryptocurrency.
Swarms of Termite Moviemakers Have Made Cinema More Personal
Screens have become less passive, more participatory, and more open to all kinds of moving pictures.
The Gun Debate Hasn't Changed in 500 Years
Guns disrupted the established order—and sparked modern-sounding debates over whether they could be effectively regulated.
I'm Dying of ALS. Knowing I Can Decide When To End My Life Brought Me Back From the Dead.
I didn’t really understand the power of Medical Aid in Dying until I received my terminal diagnosis.
How the FCC Became the Speech Police
The constitutionally anomalous status of broadcasting invites government meddling.
A Recent Book Shows Why Invading Greenland Would Be a Dumb Idea
Polar War demonstrates how difficult it is for armies to operate in the high north—and just how far America is behind Europe in Arctic warfare.
The John Galt of Comic Books
The co-creator of Spider-Man and Dr. Strange later created some failed Ayn Rand–inspired superheroes.
Faerie Smut Is About More Than Bathtubs and Archery
Don't judge A Court of Thorns and Roses by its covers.
'The Tension Between Tradition and Individualism'
Conservative founding father Frank Meyer and libertarian founding mother Rose Wilder Lane had rich, friendly debates on how much American liberty relied on old European traditions.
'We Can't Let These Sheep Go'
A New Deal–era program nearly eradicated the sacred Navajo-Churro sheep—and still reverberates through the Navajo Nation today.
Should the Civilization Video Games Be Fun—or Real?
Some players like the game to mimic the real world. Others like to play as Gandhi but nuke their enemies into oblivion.
Can America Get Out of the Gerontocracy Trap?
If voters so overwhelmingly prefer younger candidates, why are they underrepresented in politics?
Rise of the Samurai Lawyers
An economist explores how a stable and relatively just legal order emerged in medieval Japan.
Can Ultimate Frisbee Heal the Middle East?
The spread of Ultimate Frisbee testifies to a kind of Western soft power in the Middle East, one far friendlier than bombs or bullets.
The 2024 Campaign Was an Embarrassment for Elite Media
Journalists increasingly see their job as protecting their preferred candidates, not asking tough questions.
How the Feds Destroyed Backpage.com and Its Founders
By prosecuting the website's founders, the government chilled free speech online and ruined lives.
Secession Is Back in Style in Texas
Can't Americans all just get along? Maybe we can't—and perhaps we shouldn't have to.
The Libertarian Pioneer Who Wrote for America's Biggest Black Newspaper
To Rose Wilder Lane, African Americans' achievements were all the more amazing given their disadvantaged starting point.
The Republican Radical Who Helped Launch the Gay Rights Movement
Dorr Legg saw the government as homosexuals' enemy.
Government Can't Fix America's Baby Bust
The obstacles to having more babies can't be moved by tax incentives or subsidized child care.
Culture Warrior in Chief
The modern presidency is a divider, not a uniter. It has become far too powerful to be anything else.
After a Century, the Federal Tea Board Is Finally Dead
Imported tea was required for decades to pass a literal taste test before it could be sold in the United States.
Comedy's Truthiness Problem
Hasan Minhaj’s stand-up tests the boundaries of fact and fiction.
DeSantis vs. Disney: Florida's Fight Over Private Governance
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ crusade to end America's greatest success in private governance.
Why Frozen Pizza Is the Best Pizza
The best pizza isn't made in New York, Chicago, or New Haven. It's made on assembly lines.
Minesweeper, Solitaire, and a '90s Moral Panic
When computers came to offices, bosses found a new way to worry that workers were wasting time.
True Crime Distorts the Truth about Crime
Popular podcasts and shows portray crime as salacious and sexy, failing ordinary victims in the process.
Get Your Politics Out of My Pickleball
Fault lines emerge as government gets involved in America's weirdest, fastest-growing sport.
What Do Gadsden Flags and Pride Flags Have in Common?
Sexual minorities aren't the only ones who love to wave identity flags.
Comic: Maria Montessori and the Freedom To Learn
Maria Montessori valued independence and experimentation in a time of authoritarianism.
The Expensive, Seductive Nostalgia of Field of Dreams
Why are so many filmgoers and politicians eager to prop up baseball's boondoggles?
Is Internet Spoonie Culture Keeping People Sick?
While the FDA keeps experimental treatments out of reach, the spoonie world makes a diagnosis into an identity.
The GOP's Pitchfork Populism Is Older Than Trump
But it doesn't have to be the future of the GOP or the country.
Is There a Future for the City of Tomorrow?
The consequences of our obsession with urban dystopias and utopias
Stop Spazzing Out About 'Spaz'
Social media, streaming, and a new era of digital self-censorship
The Fractal, Fractious Politics of The Expanse
Taking humanity from Earth to the stars isn't easy.
When Karl Marx Made the Case for Capitalism
In barely a century, capitalism led to more productivity "than have all preceding generations together," Marx and Friedrich Engels argued.
Zora Neale Hurston's Inconvenient Individualism
The author of Their Eyes Were Watching God defies easy political categorization.
The 1619 Project Unrepentantly Pushes Junk History
Nikole Hannah-Jones' new book sidesteps scholarly critics while quietly deleting previous factual errors.
The Real Cost of a Magical Education
Blood, sweat, and tears in Naomi Novik's Scholomance novels.
Free the Art! Sell the Art!
Countless works of art are locked in museum basements. Why not put them back on the open market?
We Keep Going Back to The Matrix
How a generation was redpilled by a nerd power fantasy about defining yourself in the digital age
False Nostalgia
The "good old days" weren't all that good—but they're still messing with politics.
Communism Destroyed Russian Cooking
Soviet rule promised abundance. Instead it brought misery and starvation.
The Kinks vs. the People in Grey
Happy 50th birthday to Muswell Hillbillies, a concept album about nostalgia, conformity, and the evils of urban renewal programs.
When the 'Native Son' Became 'The Man Who Lived Underground'
One of Richard Wright's best books went unpublished in his lifetime, due to "unbearable" scenes of police brutality. Now at last it is in print.
