President Obama speaks at the National Defense University in Washington (May 23) / Peter Souza
Rethinking the War on Terror
President Obama’s speech on counterterrorism strategy fell short on substance.
Elizabeth Goitein and Faiza Patel
Little, Big
Some big-time development economists are focusing on small experiments. Others are looking at huge trends in political economy. But both camps are missing something.
Pranab Bardhan
A Costly Defense
Sequestration won’t gut the military. But runaway defense spending could bankrupt the country.
Cindy Williams
Justice Postponed in Guatemala
Former dictator José Efraín Ríos Montt has escaped responsibility for genocide, and so has the United States.
Lauren Carasik
“No to Profit”
Pinochet privatized Chile’s higher education and made it the most expensive in the world. Now Chileans are fighting to get it back.
Lili Loofbourow
At Stanford University’s Center for Ethics in Society, economist John B. Taylor argues that government intervention in the economy is a major cause of its continuing sluggish growth.
essays
Martial Flaw
Why Tsarnaev Is Not an Enemy Combatant
Elizabeth Goitein—Web only
Praying to Allah on Bastille Day
Winner of 2012–13 BR Essay Contest
Kate Korman
Glenn C. Loury, judge—Web only
Against the Brahmins
An interview with Pankaj Mishra
Wajahat Ali—Web only
Identity We Are Willing to Have
Peranakan Vassar grad finds her place with the Navajo
Josey Foo—Web only
Getting Smarter
Why are human beings becoming more intelligent?
Claude S. Fischer
Founding Firearms
Originalism and the Second Amendment
Pamela S. Karlan
fiction
The Ghost of Berries
“If only you could know,” his mother said, “how much this is not blueberry. A real blueberry is plump and juicy as a pinky toe.”
Joe Fassler
Tayopa
The country is empty and twisting. You could search for a dozen years and not find the mine.
Ben C. Stroud
Forums
Can Global Brands Create Just Supply Chains?
Companies such as Nike and Apple have attempted to improve working conditions in their suppliers’ factories, but the results have been disappointing.
A forum with lead essay by Richard M. Locke and responses from from Isaac Shapiro, Tim Bartley, Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel, Gary Gereffi, Hannah Jones, Pamela Passman, Drusilla Brown, Aseem Prakash, and Layna Mosley. Richard M. Locke replies.
State of the Nation
The Turnout Mystery
Obama won despite low voter participation
Stephen Ansolabehere
Big Organic
Who owns your favorite organic brands?
Wenonah Hauter
poetry
A More Ordinary Poet
Seeking Emily Dickinson
Gillian Osborne
Eat What You Kill
Sophie Cabot Black—Web only
from The Uses of the Body
Deborah Landau
Declining Public Appetite for Large Wars of Occupation
Dara Wier
2013 “Discovery” Poetry Contest
Winning poems by Catherine Blauvelt, Julia Guez, Raena Shirali, and Erika L. Sánchez
Ecstasy
Jane Miller
More Poetry & Poetry Criticism
On Film
Lolita in Japan
Abbas Kiarostami’s Like Someone in Love explores the oddball relationship between a Japanese call girl and an 80-year-old retired professor.
Alan A. Stone
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