Elaine Scarry, Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University, is author most recently of Thinking in an Emergency.
Democracy depends on the free exchange of ideas. Help sustain it with a tax-deductible donation today.
Elaine Scarry, Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University, is author most recently of Thinking in an Emergency.
On the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, it is clear that white supremacy sustains the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
With virtually no democratic oversight and over 6,500 missiles in the United States alone, the use of nuclear weapons is almost inevitable. So why is it so hard to think about nuclear war?
To be a nuclear-armed state is to invest the executive with dictatorial powers over immeasurable destructive capacity.
Why we must prosecute the Bush administration officials who sanctioned torture.
It is only by addressing torture through legal instruments—not simply through the electoral repudiation of bad policy—that the grave and widespread damage stands a chance of being repaired.
The double requirement of the Constitution—that people's lives be private and government actions be public—is turned inside out by the Patriot Act.
A political and literary forum, independent and nonprofit since 1975. Registered 501(c)(3) organization. Learn more about our mission
We publish leading scholars, activists, and writers on the most pressing political debates of our time.
But as a small nonprofit, we rely on reader support. Will you help support bold thinking about a more just world?
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. Will you make a tax-deductible contribution today?