Louis Menand: 'Freedom Was the Slogan of the Times'
Why postwar culture from Jack Kerouac to Andy Warhol to James Baldwin to Susan Sontag to Yoko Ono battled boundaries hemming them in.
History
Postal Censorship and Surveillance: A Timeline
The government's long and shameful history of intercepting people's letters
The Founding Fathers Thought America Was Doomed
“The fact that it hasn't ended in the past 230 years suggests that maybe [it will] last a good deal longer,” says historian Dennis C. Rasmussen, author of Fears of a Setting Sun: The Disillusionment of America's Founders
Congress Votes To Kick Confederate Statues Out of the Capitol
Plus: Fast approval of Alzheimer's drug draws scrutiny, the value of disagreement, and more...
The Publication of the Pentagon Papers Still Sets an Example 50 Years Later
Whistleblowers and publishers are crucial for keeping government officials reasonably honest.
City Building and Black Power
That time a civil rights activist teamed up with Richard Nixon to build a black-run town in rural North Carolina
Don't Ban Critical Race Theory in Education. Embrace School Choice Instead.
It's wrong for politicians to suppress important debates in schools. Instead let families have more control of their kids' educations.
Tacky's Revolt
Historian Vincent Brown's new book examines the 18th-century slave insurrection, arguing it was really four different wars at once.
The Doubling of Life Expectancy Is the Greatest Achievement in 100 Years
Science writer Steven Johnson, author of the new book Extra Life, on vaccines, medical breakthroughs, and life after Covid.
Why Millennials Hate Free Speech and What To Do About It
The creator of ultra-woke poet Titania McGrath makes the case against cancel culture.
Andrew Doyle: Free Speech and Why It Matters
The creator of Titania McGrath on cancel culture, government overreach, and younger generations' willingness to censor
There's Nothing Modern About MMT
Similar measures have been tried before, right here in America, and they have worked. But that's actually not good news for MMT fans today.
3 Myths About American Decline
Politicians and the media are telling bogus stories about falling fertility rates, rising inequality, and lack of economic mobility.
Chinese Immigrants in the Deep South Struggle and Thrive in PBS Documentary
A tale of heartbreak and tenacity in post-Reconstruction Mississippi.
Eldridge Cleaver: The Mormon Years
Friday A/V Club: A former Black Panther's winding path
Society Is Richer and More Accepting, Thanks to Libertarian Ideas
And yet neither Democrats nor Republicans represent those principles.
When Joe Biden Talks About Worker Choice, He Means Only 1 Choice
His administration is twisting history and federal law to claim the government must encourage collective bargaining.
The Myth of Antonio Salazar
The integralist right's foolish crush on the man who once ruled Portugal
What Really Happened to the Class of '68?
Friday A/V Club: The Yippies, the yuppies, and the ghosts of the '60s and '80s
How Press Freedom—and Section 230—Led to Derek Chauvin's Conviction
Imagine a world in which media outlets were unable or afraid to post video of police and other authorities acting reprehensibly.
Without a World War, We Have an Unaffordable War-Sized Government
Americans distract themselves with freak-show headlines while political institutions escape their control.
G. Gordon Liddy: The Hollywood Years
Friday A/V Club: How a Watergate burglar spent the '80s
Andra Day Shines in a Confused Interpretation of The United States vs. Billie Holiday
What we know about Holiday’s mistreatment is compelling enough without muddling her history.
RIP Mark Schlefer, the Man Who Made FOIA Happen
"In the drafting, we were adamant that you didn't have to have an interest to have access. You could just be a citizen."
A Radical History of Tennis?
Despite some interesting tidbits, a new history of the game falls short.
Was the Reagan Revolution Really Reagan's?
While we're at it, was it really a revolution?
San Francisco School Board President Says Critics of School Renaming Are Undermining Anti-Racist Work
"What I keep hearing is you're trying to undermine the work that has been done through this process."
The Sordid History of the Fairness Doctrine
It was terrible for free speech on the radio dial. We shouldn't inflict it on the internet too.
San Francisco Residents Balk at Decision To Scrub Lincoln, Washington, Feinstein from School Names
Plus: Smoking rates stop falling, ACLU defends man banned from library over Trump poem, and more...
Miracles and Magic
The desire to know one's fortune seems to be an instinctive human urge.
Americans and Their Foreign Entanglements
Nothing in U.S. history suggests that ordinary Americans are isolationists—but nothing suggests they've embraced international adventurism either.
How Immigrants Make America Great Again (and Again and Again)
A new book documents that newcomers revitalize beliefs in hard work, property rights, and the rule of law.
Frederick Douglass vs. the 1619 Project
A new book explicates the escaped slave and renowned orator's argument that the Constitution is "a glorious liberty document" that justified ending slavery.
Damon Root: Why Frederick Douglass Loved the Constitution (and You Should Too)
The escaped slave called the Constitution "a glorious liberty document" that justified extending equality to blacks and women.
Trip Out with Timothy Leary's Ex-Girlfriend in My Psychedelic Love Story
A documentary describes a drug-fueled countercultural romance.
Libertarian History/Philosophy
Charles Koch and Brian Hooks: Believe in People
The libertarian billionaire and the head of his foundation discuss their new book, leaving partisanship behind, and learning from their critics.
Libertarian History/Philosophy
Charles Koch and Brian Hooks on Learning From Your Critics
The libertarian philanthropist and CEO of Stand Together on their new book, Believe in People: Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World
Virginia Postrel: When Calico Was Treated Like Cocaine
The former Reason editor discusses her new book, The Fabric of Civilization, and why she's optimistic about the future.
Dorothy Day: Personalist Hero
The enigmatic founder of the Catholic Worker Movement was an extraordinary avatar of nonviolent dissent.
The Guillotine Mystique
The French Revolution has long inspired progressive radicals ready for change at any cost.
Joe Biden Should Stop Bragging About the Violence Against Women Act
The Democratic nominee championed the law as a way to protect women. Instead, it hurt them.
Bob Chitester: How Free To Choose Changed the World
Here's the inside story of Milton Friedman's path-breaking PBS series about economic and political freedom, from the man who produced it.
'Where Would the Black Lives Matter Movement Be Without the Right to Free Speech?'
Ira Glasser, former head of the ACLU, is worried that his former group is embracing identity politics over free speech.
Salvaging Secession
The Founders understood union as a strategic necessity, not a moral imperative.
Before TMZ and Page Six, America Turned to Walter Winchell for Gossip
PBS documentary recounts life of America’s pioneer of tawdry fame coverage.
