Arts in Society

The Machines Get in the Way

The work of art—and the work of making art—in an age increasingly hostile to it.

  • Luke Dunne

The Latest

Politics

Dispatches from the Forever Wars

A special section in our Spring 2026 issue, with writing from Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, and the West Bank.

From the Editors: Forever Wars

Introducing our Spring 2026 issue.

  • Boston Review
Politics

The War on Gaza Has Not Ended

A hundred days after Trump’s Board of Peace was ratified, nothing has improved here.

  • Asem Alnabih
Politics

A Year of Magical Thinking

Elite impunity has fueled the fantasy that catastrophes are for other people.

  • Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
Politics

How to Hold a City Hostage

Historian Stuart Schrader on the untold history of police unions—and how they helped catapult cops to new heights of power and impunity.

  • Stuart Schrader
  • nia t. evans
Politics

The War on Iran: A Conversation

A roundtable on the consequences of U.S. and Israeli aggression, reactions from Iran and the Iranian diaspora, and the future of Iranian struggles for freedom and democracy.

  • Peyman Jafari
  • Ali Kadivar
  • Manijeh Moradian
  • Naghmeh Sohrabi
  • Alex Shams
Politics

Standing at the Gates of Hell

In the West Bank, the war on Iran has removed all restraints on settler violence against Palestinians.

  • Raja Shehadeh
Politics Race

Hunted and Banned

Efforts to control Black mobility—from early passports to the Fugitive Slave Act—laid much of the groundwork for today’s border regimes.

  • Robyn Maynard
Politics

The Catastrophe That Has Befallen All of Us

The director of an art center in Tehran on life under U.S.-Israeli bombardment.

  • Naghmeh Sohrabi

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Forums

Politics

How Not to Defeat Authoritarianism

Moderation used to help Democrats win, but its advantages now have been greatly exaggerated.

  • Adam Bonica
  • Jake Grumbach
with responses from
  • Cori Bush
  • Amanda Litman
  • Matthew Yglesias
  • G. Elliott Morris
  • Julia Serano
  • Eric Rauchway
  • Suzanne Mettler & Trevor E. Brown
  • Thomas Ferguson
  • Timothy Shenk
  • Jared Abbott & Milan Loewer
  • Jenifer Fernandez Ancona
  • Lily Geismer
  • Danielle Wiggins
  • William A. Galston
  • Henry Burke
Politics

The Real Border Crisis

The problem isn’t immigration. It’s the failure of liberal democracy itself.

  • Lea Ypi
with responses from
  • Paulina Ochoa Espejo
  • T. Alexander Aleinikoff
  • Dara Lind
  • Daniel Denvir
  • Chandran Kukathas
  • Ayelet Shachar
Politics

The Responsibility of Intellectuals in the Age of Fascism and Genocide

Speaking the truth and exposing lies is not enough.

  • Robin D. G. Kelley
with responses from
  • David Waldstreicher
  • Jennifer Zacharia
  • Martin O’Neill
Current issue

The elite delusions fueling the violence of the present.

Featuring a roundtable on Iran & dispatches from Beirut, Baghdad, and Ramallah. Plus Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò on ending elite impunity, David Waldstreicher on America at 250, Harsha Walia on how not to abolish ICE, and more.

Events

Learn more about our in-person and virtual events with leading scholars, writers, and activists.

The War on Iran

Politics

Iran After Khamenei

An interview with sociologist Asef Bayat on the U.S.-Israeli war, democratic opposition to the Islamic Republic, and the country’s uncertain future.

  • Asef Bayat
  • Alex Shams
Politics

Our Man for Tehran

The U.S.- and Israel-backed campaign positioning Reza Pahlavi, son of the Shah, for regime change in Iran.

  • Alex Shams
Politics

“Where’s our bomb?”

Trita Parsi talks with Rajan Menon about the “self-fulfilling prophecy” set in motion by Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran.

  • Trita Parsi
  • Rajan Menon

From the Archive

Politics

The Reckoning

On the proper place for religion in politics.

  • Catherine Tumber

Reading Lists

Politics

Dispatches from the Forever Wars

A special section in our Spring 2026 issue, with writing from Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, and the West Bank.

Reading List

Remember Iraq? Remember Syria?

The still-reverberating consequences of U.S. foreign policy

Reading List

Trump’s First Year

The violent reconfiguration of U.S. politics and power

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