The Latest

Politics

How Not to Do Activism

The calculus of power isn’t defined by hits or clicks or tweets. It is measured in relationships and meaningful reactions over time.

Arts in Society Race

Ally: From Noun to Verb

Robin D. G. Kelley talks with musician Vijay Iyer about systems of oppression, the responsibility of artists, and how jazz sells proximity to blackness to white people.

Law Race

The Pervasive Power of the Settler Mindset

More than simple racism or discrimination, it is built upon violent elimination.

Law

A Jury of One’s Peers

Prosecutors have too long used a system of “strikes” to engineer nearly all-white juries.

Arts in Society

An Arrangement

“He says that he needs to talk to you about something. You feel your stomach churn. He says that he is sorry.” Their relationship in flux, two men go on vacation in Palm Springs to try to patch things up.

Politics

Loving Latin at the End of the World

The beauty of the language should not keep us from reckoning with its history.

Arts in Society

Three Poems

Law

College Behind Bars

One man’s struggle to earn a degree while incarcerated shows how far tough-on-crime policies go to prevent prisoners from having a second chance.

Race

Against Black Homeownership

The real estate market is so structured by race that Black families will never come out ahead.

Arts in Society

My cat paints her fur on with her tongue

Brother when I die
my ashes go to your house.
Confusion where to scatter
is all I’ll leave.
Politics

It’s No Secret Why Republicans Win

The right’s success is not a shadowy conspiracy; it has been achieved out in the open, largely through ordinary politics. Much of it can be countered the same way.

Class & Inequality Politics

The Long History of Debt Cancellation

Moral thinking about debt has fluctuated throughout U.S. history. Today’s calls for cancellation suggest it may be poised for transformation once again.

Pledge Your Support, Make a Contribution

Join our community of supporting readers and help Boston Review preserve free and open access to our website.

Law

The President and the Blob

The barrage of attacks that followed Trump’s decision to reduce the U.S. military presence in Syria obscures the decades-long bankruptcy of the U.S. foreign policy establishment.

Arts in Society

Rap on Trial

Prosecutors use defendants’ rap lyrics to win cases despite the flimsiest evidence. Behind this rests a unique paranoia around hip hop and a long history of criminalizing black art. 

Philosophy Science

What Makes Science Trustworthy

The “scientific method” of high school textbooks does not exist. But there are scientific methods.

Arts in Society Class & Inequality

Zero Hour: The First Days of New Berlin

Thirty years after the Wall fell, the story of Berlin’s anarchist utopia.

Politics

Fascism in Translation

Far-right leaders often call for one nation united under one language. They have also always been good at using translation to spread their politics.

Politics

Politics Is for Power, Not Consumption

Political hobbyism takes well-meaning citizens away from pursuing power.

Arts in Society

Surely, Not

“What’s worse than any pain is being without him, and what’s worse even still is that it’s his idea to go.”

Arts in Society

Abdel Halim Performs a Private Concert for My Mother

Race

The Greensboro Massacre at 40

On November 3, 1979, members of the KKK and American Nazi Party murdered five labor organizers in broad daylight. Forty years later, massacre survivor Rosalyn Pelles talks about that day, and why organized workers are such a threat to the powerful.

Gender & Sexuality Law

Halloween and Stranger Danger

Bizarre restrictions are levied against people on the sex offense registry on Halloween. But do they actually make children safer or simply reveal what we fear?

Class & Inequality Law

How Not to Argue for Tax Justice

Economists are taking aim at the unfairness of the U.S. tax system. But a just society won’t be won by arguing about taxes alone.

Get our newsletter

Vital reading on politics, ideas, and culture to your inbox


A political and literary forum, independent and nonprofit since 1975

Registered 501(c)(3) organization