Politics

On Post-Fascism

Its central characteristic is hostility to universal citizenship.

Remnants of War

The deadly legacy of America's air war in Laos

Educating a Democracy

The demands of the 21st century, as well as the demands of democratic life, are best met by preserving plural definitions of a good education.

Real Tax Reform

The case for a progressive consumption tax

Beyond Backyard Environmentalism

The United States is in the midst of a fundamental reorientation of its environmental regulation, one that is as improbable as it is unremarked.

The Personal Is Not the Political

More than two decades after her death in 1975, Hannah Arendt has emerged as the political theorist of the post-totalitarian moment.

Review: The Twilight of the Intellectuals

The New Politics of Consumption

Somebody needs to be for quality of life, not just quantity of stuff.

Primo Levi’s Last Moments

On that tragic Saturday, only his body was smashed.

The Two Hundred Years War

The origins of conflict in Yugoslavia. 

Identity Politics

Forced deportations threaten to turn the Ethiopian-Eritrean border conflict into ethnic war.

Nonfiction Microreviews

Summer 1999

When Rights Are Wrong

The difficult choices surrounding building searches, curfews, anti-loitering provisions, and the like should be made by the individuals with the biggest stake in them.

From Utopia to Myopia

How the aesthetic pose crippled political thinking.

Silence Is Death

An interview with the Rev. Eugene Rivers III.

Review: Books on Euthanasia

Two new collections of essays contribute to the public debate—with varied results.

Banishing the Specter of War

How early warning and early action can prevent the escalation of disputes into armed violence.

On Pinochet

The dictator's extradition and the limits of international law.

The Campaign to Save Mumia Abu-Jamal

The former members of the Black Panthers is on death row. 

Review: The Color of Truth

By Kai Bird.

The Ownership Solution

A better way to share the wealth.

Is Equality Passé?

The welfare state is in trouble not because selfishness is rampant (it is not), but because many egalitarian programs no longer evoke deeply held notions of fairness.

Forces of Civility

The NGO revolution and the search for peace.

Development—but at What Cost?

An exchange on Jay Mandle's "The Problem with Thinking Locally" (BR, Summer 1998).

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