Lives Ruined for Petty Crimes
A new book explores how America's criminal justice system heaps debts on those who can't possibly pay.
Books
When the Cops Come for You in the Target Parking Lot
A mom reflects on her experience parenting in the age of fear.
Jurassic Regulation
A new book reaches the right conclusions on telecom policy but suffers from anti-market myopia.
The Problem With Nudging People to Happiness
Cass Sunstein's latest book puts a lot of faith in the efficacy of government to structure our choices.
Return of the Reefer-Crazed Killer
"The black tide of psychosis and the red tide of violence are rising together on a green wave."
The Case Against the Case for Federal Land Management
A new book throws red meat to "public land advocates," but its arguments leave a lot to be desired.
No, Sex Wasn't Better for Women Under Socialism
It's hard to get in the mood when you're sharing a bedroom with your mother-in-law.
The Government Can't—and Won't—Give Meaning to Your Life
A conservative technocrat tries to engineer a better world.
Why Do So Many Modern Jobs Seem Pointless?
An investigation into why people are working more without accomplishing more
Trouble in Paradise
Naomi Klein misses the meaning of "the miracles Puerto Ricans have been quietly pulling off while their government fails them."
Wrestling With Old Hickory's Ghost
A conservative re-evaluation of President Andrew Jackson
Immigration Won't Spark a Civil War
Central planning doesn't work. The labor market is no exception.
The Wild Rise of Lyndon LaRouche
What a conspiracy theorist, a Vietnam War deserter, and a Trump adviser have in common
Who Controls Your Cortex?
Michael Pollan's new book portrays Timothy Leary as a reckless self-promoter, but Leary asked the right questions about psychedelics.
Do Partisans Hate Each Other More Than Ever?
Scholars try to explain today's political warfare.
Myers-Briggs Is Bunk
Why doesn't that stop people from taking the enduringly popular personality test?
A Flyby Analysis of Flyover Country
Two Atlantic writers tour America in a tiny plane and manage to miss nearly everything that really matters.
People Without Nations, Nations Without People
The future of the Westphalian system is full of unanswered questions.
Vietnam and the Rise of White Power
A new book ties racist reactionary politics to the war, but overreaches when it comes to militias.
The Democracy Theorist in the Age of Trump
Saving liberal democracy one platitude at a time
Can Bitcoin Become the Global Monetary Standard?
With its supply permanently capped at 21 million units, Satoshi Nakamoto's invention may turn out to be the best form of money ever conceived.
1972: The Year That Made 2018 Seem Sane
Richard Nixon's battle with Timothy Leary puts today's culture wars to shame.
The Insanely Eventful Life of Grateful Dead Lyricist John Perry Barlow
A posthumous memoir from a mutant genius
When the Political Became the Personal, Gay Rights Triumphed
How prosperity, AIDS, and pop culture changed people's minds
Russians and Reactionaries
The on-again, off-again flirtation between Mother Russia and the deplorables of Europe
Getting Crony Capitalism Half Right
The solution to government interference isn't more of it.
How We Lost Privacy
Today people are shamed for not sharing personal information about themselves.
Fear of a Free, Prosperous Internet
Big tech businesses serve America. Should we be alarmed?
Humanity Isn't Destroying the Natural World. We're Changing It.
Welcome to Anthropocene Park.
When Governments Suspend Their Own Rules
Special economic zones can be anything from tools of crony capitalism to seeds of a freer world order.
'My Plan Is to Let People Do Whatever They Please'
The daily newspaper columns of H.L. Mencken
Statist Just-So Stories
The author of Seeing Like a State casts a skeptical eye on the conventional wisdom about the cradle of civilization.
Sex and Communism
The times and trajectory of Max Eastman, progressive turned "libertarian conservative"
How Grocery Stores Got Good
The Amazon/Whole Foods deal is just the latest chapter in a long story of progress.
The Insatiable Utopia
The Soviet elite who built a "dictatorship of the proletariat" and paid with their lives
The Great James Buchanan Conspiracy
A controversial attack on a libertarian-leaning economist mangles the facts beyond recognition. But the book still has something to teach us.
George Washington's 'Founding War of Conquest'
The standing army, Native American opposition, and the high cost of territorial expansion
