Red Markets
Sometimes communist countries had to tolerate a little economic liberty just to survive.
History
The Uses and Disadvantages of Soviet History for Life
It is hard to comprehend the scarcity and existential dread that was humanity's constant companion during the Cold War.
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.
Boston Officials Want to Know if You Think This Dilapidated Shack Is Historically Significant
The city's solicitation of public input on the demolition of shacks, sheds, and boarded up homes is an invitation for NIMBYism.
40 Years of Trillion-Dollar Debt
Forty years from now, it'll be much, much, much higher.
Steven Pinker: Rationality Has Made Us Richer, Kinder, and More Free
The Harvard linguist says Enlightenment reasoning and critical thinking are behind massive increases in material and moral progress.
The First Semiconductor Trade War
What Reagan's tariffs in the '80s can teach us about today's foreign-made semiconductors
California Returns Beach Property Wrongly Taken From Black Family via Eminent Domain
The government confiscated Bruce's Beach at racists' behest.
'Equity,' 'Multiculturalism,' and 'Racial Prejudice' Among Concepts That Could Be Banned in Schools by Wisconsin Bill
A bill touted as banning "critical race theory" in schools would actually ban a huge array of speech around culture, race, and sex, its sponsor says.
George Will vs. 1619 Project: The U.S. Founding Is 'the Best Thing That Ever Happened'
The Washington Post columnist says President Joe Biden isn't a progressive but "will go where the [Democratic] party goes, and the party is being driven by other people."
Walking the Delicate Line Between Reporter and Activist
Telling a century's worth of stories about the people who had done creative things on the radio dial—and their opponents
George Will: Why He's Against Biden, Trump, and the 1619 Project—And Bullish on the Future
When government "gets out of the way, we're going to see again, the creativity of the American people," says the 80-year-old optimist.
50 Years After Attica, Prisons Are Still the Problem No One Wants To See
The men of Attica said they had "set forth to change forever the ruthless brutalization" of U.S. prisoners. For all the horror and bloodshed, not much has changed.
Could the CIA and FBI Have Stopped 9/11?
We may have misinterpreted 9/11 as a harbinger, when it was really just an outlier.
Documentary on CIA's Hunt for Bin Laden Doesn't Truly Pull Back the Curtain
As the 20th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, prepare for the many, many looks back.
Governments Love a Media Cartel—As Long as They're in Control
Friday A/V Club: Some people are against concentrated media power. Some just want to bend it to their will.
Why Welfare Reform Worked
Work, not dependency, was what lifted many people up out of poverty.
Howard Mortman: Why Does Congress Pray Every Day?
The When Rabbis Bless Congress author and C-SPAN honcho on a weird political tradition and the glorious death of legacy media
The Unsinkable City
A new book explores how New York has transformed itself since the crises of the 1970s.
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.
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?
