Help Us Stay Paywall-Free

We rely on readers to keep our website open to all. Help sustain a public space for collective reasoning and imagination—make a tax-deductible donation today.

January/February 2012

The Future of Black Politics

Michael C. Dawson leads the forum on the future of black politics, with responses from William Julius Wilson, Andra Gillespie, Rev. Patrick H. O’Connor, Jennifer L. Hochschild, and others. Danelle Morton tells the stories of young drifters who died in a New Orleans warehouse fire; in Brazil, everyone studies philosophy; a poem by John Ashbery.

 

Forum 

The Future of Black Politics 

Michael C. Dawson — with responses from:

WILLIAM JULIUS WILSON, ANDRA GILLESPIE, TOMMIE SHELBY, REV. PATRICK H. O’CONNOR, JENNIFER L. HOCHSCHILD, LANI GUNIER AND GERALD TORRES, DORIAN T. WARREN, AND ROBIN D. G. KELLEY.


Foundations

The Brown Majority
Stephen Ansolabehere
Outing Iran
David William Turner
Poetry Fights Back
Shaheen Buneri
Karlan’s Court: Big Brother Buys a GPS
Pamela S. Karlan

Special Report

A World on Fire: Life and Death in a New Orleans Squat
Danelle Morton

Books & Ideas

Citizen Philosophers: Teaching Justice in Brazil
Carlos Fraenkel
Cheating Death: Philosophers Ponder the Afterlife
Alex Byrne
Not So Nasty, Brutish, and Short: Steven Pinker’s Good News
Claude S. Fischer
No Parties, No Banners: The Spanish Experiment with Direct Democracy
Gianpaolo Baiocchi and Ernesto Ganuza

Fiction

Summer of ’76
Phyllis Alexander

On Poetry

Poet’s Sampler

Iris Cushing, introduced by Katy Lederer

The Suffering World: Poets Grieve
Katie Peterson
All Together Now: How Description Fosters Connection
Siobhan Phillips

On Film

An Acquired Taste: Lynne Ramsay’s We Need to Talk About Kevin
Alan A. Stone

 

Poems

The Bicameral Eyeball
John Ashbery
The Sound of It, Spring
Elizabeth Gramm
Some Novelties of Stagecraft
Matthew Gagnon
Toxic Assets
Sam Witt
Ambiguous Origins
Jack Boettcher
Boat
Spencer Short
[Ill Wind]
Jesse Lichtenstein
The State of Utah is Shaped like a Glove
Alina Gregorian
Dear Day,
Catherine Pierce

Boston Review is nonprofit and reader funded.

We believe in the power of collective reasoning and imagination to create a more just world. That’s why we’re committed to keeping our website free and open to everyone, regardless of ability to pay. But we can’t do it without the financial support of our readers.

Help sustain a public space for collective reasoning and imagination, without ads or paywalls:

Become a supporting reader today.

Sign Up for Our
Newsletter

Vital reading on politics, literature, and more in your inbox. Sign up for our Weekly Newsletter, Monthly Roundup, and event notifications.

Just in time for the holidays, get any three print issues of Boston Review for just $35 – that’s 40% off the cover price!

Before December 9, mix and match any three issues for one low price using code 3FOR35.

Just in time for the holidays, get any three print issues of Boston Review for just $35 – that’s 40% off the cover price!

Before December 9, mix and match any three issues for one low price using code 3FOR35.

We can't publish without your support.

For nearly 50 years, Boston Review has been a home for collective reasoning and imagination on behalf of a more just world.

But our future is never guaranteed. As a small, independent nonprofit, we have no endowment or single funder. We rely on contributions from readers like you to sustain our work.

If you appreciate what we publish and want to help ensure a future for the great writing and constructive debate that appears in our pages, please make a tax-deductible donation today.

"An indispensable pillar of the public sphere."

That’s what sociologist Alondra Nelson says of Boston Review. Independent and nonprofit, we believe in the power of collective reasoning and imagination to create a more just world.

That’s why there are no paywalls on our website, but we can’t do it without the support of our readers. Please make a tax-deductible donation to help us create a more inclusive and egalitarian public sphere—open to everyone, regardless of ability to pay.