American Democracy Is in the Mail
In 2004 Muriel Ponder joined the U.S. Postal Service as a mechanic; she quickly recognized it as the best job that she had ever worked. She found there an office group with camaraderie and pride in...
View ArticleU.S. Politics is Failing Children
Invisible Americans: The Tragic Cost of Child Poverty Jeff Madrick Knopf, $25.00 (cloth)
View ArticleTrump’s America Remains Stuck in the Shadow of Reagan
Reaganland: America’s Right Turn 1976–1980 Rick PerlsteinSimon and Schuster, $40 (cloth)
View ArticleSave the Equal Rights Amendment
This essay is featured in Boston Review’s spring 2020 book, The Right to Be Elected.Order A Copy Today
View ArticleOur Undemocratic Constitution
“We have the votes,” Mitch McConnell declared about Amy Coney Barrett’s seemingly unstoppable confirmation as a Supreme Court justice. In response, Democrats have called the jammed-through proceedings...
View ArticleHow Criminal Law Lost Its Mind
Every morning in the United States 2.2 million people wake up in our nation’s prisons and jails, making us the world leader in incarceration.
View ArticleRealizing a Green Future
Read more in Boston Review’s new book, Climate Action.Order A Copy Today
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How Nations Heal
In his first speech as president-elect, Joe Biden emphasized the need for national unity and healing. Kamala Harris echoed that sentiment in a tweet November 13: “Now the hard work, the necessary work,...
View ArticlePoisoning Tallevast
This essay is featured in Boston Review’s new book, Climate Action.Order A Copy Today
View ArticleA Parable and Parody of Restorative Justice
After “the,” “and,” and “fuckin’,” the most frequently used word in the Netflix series Dead to Me must be “sorry.”The protagonists of the show, Judy Hale and Jen Harding, have plenty for which to be...
View ArticleRawls at 100
The American political philosopher John Rawls was born in 1921 and published A Theory of Justice in 1971. In celebration of these 100th and 50th anniversaries, we provide this reading list of great...
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Who Deserves to Be Forgiven?
Shortly after the deadly riot at the Capitol, the press began to run articles with the ostensible goal of painting a more complete picture of the insurrectionists. As I have lamented elsewhere, most of...
View ArticleIs There a Right to Heresy?
On October 2, 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron gave a speech warning of the rising threat of “Islamist separatism.” This radical political project, Macron contended, is testing the resilience of...
View ArticleUse Sunlight or Lose It
What if we seized the sunlight falling unused on roofs, parking lots, and other urban surfaces? From it we could generate electricity, thereby advancing the vital transition away from fossil fuels....
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Derek Chauvin and the Myth of the Impartial Juror
Photo: Adobe Stock / moodboardDid you, or someone close to you, participate in any of the demonstrations or marches against police brutality that took place in Minneapolis after George Floyd’s death?....
View ArticleCongress Could Legislate ‘Roe v. Wade’ and Still Fail Women
On this year’s anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Biden administration committed “to codifying Roe v. Wade and appointing judges that respect foundational precedents like Roe.” This commitment anticipates...
View ArticleWith Gay Adoption Decision, Will the Supreme Court Erode the Regulatory State?
LGBTQ+ Americans appear to owe a lot to the Supreme Court lately. Despite fifty years of right-wing legal training, conservative foundation building, and huge influxes of donor cash, the federal...
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