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.

Summer 2017

The President's House Is Empty: Losing and Gaining Public Goods

From clean water to health care, access to well-being in the United States is hardly uniform. This issue explores what public goods are and why they matter for democracy.

Forum: Losing and Gaining Public Goods

Opening
K. Sabeel Rahman
K. Sabeel Rahman
Joshua Cohen
Lauren Jacobs
Jacob T. Levy
Michael Hardt
Elaine Kamarck

Essays

Bonnie Honig

Opting out, as Trump has done with the White House, is a neoliberal habit. But who bears the cost?

Bernardo Zacka

Following Trump's election, bureaucracy has gone from being a thorn in the side of democracy to being its saving grace. But bureaucrats are also frontline workers who grapple independently with complex questions of democracy.

Marshall Steinbaum

When college is a prerequisite for getting a job that pays better than minimum wage, we cannot stop until it is free and accessible to all.

Tracey L. Meares

Policing as we know it must be abolished before it can be transformed.

Julian C. Chambliss

Mar-a-Lago is the apotheosis of the Florida Dream in which wealthy interests degrade the environment and hollow out prospects for the poor. But as Hurricane Irma shows, this dream was never sustainable.

Meghan O’Gieblyn

From the Great Lakes to the Flint River, we have devastated our waters through negligence, lethargy, and good intentions.


Poetry

Shane McCrae

The Role of the Negro in the Work of Art

Order our Summer 2017 book today to read more.
Craig Santos Perez

A Make-Believe Nation

Order our Summer 2017 book today to read more.
Sally Ball

Soon Scrap Heap

Order our Summer 2017 book today to read more.

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.

"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.