Statist Just-So Stories
The author of Seeing Like a State casts a skeptical eye on the conventional wisdom about the cradle of civilization.
Books
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
Breaking Addicts in Order to Fix Them
How Synanon revolutionized drug treatment and poisoned the politics of prohibition.
The Case for Gender Anarchy
Want to end trans discrimination? Stop forcing people to label themselves.
The Surprisingly Long History of Private Space Exploration
America returns to its roots, thanks to philanthropists who are literally shooting for the stars.
Selling the Silk Road Soap Opera
A new book on dark net entrepreneur Ross Ulbricht misses the point.
How Jane Jacobs Challenged the Centralized Urban Planning Groupthink
The death and life of a great American urbanist
God and Man at the FBI
Dissident and offbeat religious groups have faced more than a century of surveillance.
That Old-Time Civil Religion
Faith, dogma, and the constant reinvention of U.S. foreign policy
An Epidemic of Bad Epidemiology
A new book offers a potent antidote to toxic misinformation.
What Uncle Sam and Jim Crow Taught Hitler
When Nazi lawyers went looking for racial legislation to emulate, they turned to the United States.
Why Customers Like Check Cashers and Payday Lenders
Many Americans prefer alternatives to traditional banking.
Disasters Should Be Dull
But as long as distant authorities are in charge, that's impossible.
If These Walls Could Sprechen
The story of a small German cottage built by Jews, seized by Nazis, gifted to a Stasi informant, and taken over by punk rockers
Death from Above
Whistleblowers reveal the truth about the drone war to a nation that struggles to listen.
Stepping in for the State in Detroit
When the government can't or won't provide services, residents step in.
Is Religion in the Crosshairs?
Don't confuse private pressure with repression by the state.
The Haunted House That Guns Built
Did a marketing campaign trick Americans into loving firearms?
America's Other World War II Internment Camps
The legacy of the German and Japanese prisoners held hostage
Where Did Trump Come From?
A new history of the American right sheds light on the GOP in 2016.
Cotton, Coercion, and Capitalism
A sweeping history aims to change the way we think about the origins of capitalism.
There Is No War on Cops
A new book from a prominent right-wing commentator fails to make the case.
The Permanent Security State
Presidents come and go, but the national security bureaucracy never leaves.
How the Fed Was Born
A book about the birth of the Federal Reserve overlooks the flaws in the system.
How Liberals Put Black America Behind Bars
A surprising new history about race and prison
Peter Thiel's Start-Up Manifesto
Why the PayPal founder and early Facebook investor loves monopolies, the Founding Fathers, and Lady Gaga.
Naomi Klein Changes Nothing
The laws of nature do not mandate a progressive paradise.
