Class & Inequality, Politics

The Ever Given and the Monstrosity of Maritime Capitalism

Two timely new books unmask the colossal shipping industry behind global trade, whose monstrous pursuit of profit has long wreaked havoc on laborers and the seas they sail through.

Charmaine Chua

Science & Nature

Science Doesn't Work That Way

Its authority derives not from unbiased experts but from the institutions and norms that structure their work.

Gregory E. Kaebnick

Arts in Society

Digital Reading: Poetry, Fiction, Essays

Join us at 6.30 P.M. EST on May 13 for an evening of readings from our 2021 literary anthology, Ancestors, with ASL interpreting. Register now.

Arts in Society, Science & Nature

Poetry in the Critical Zone

In a new book of lyric essays, poet Cole Swensen answers a call issued by theorists Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel: to reimagine the globe in terms of the fragile surface ecosystems that support all life. 

Erika Howsare

Race

Police and the License to Kill

Detroit police killed hundreds of unarmed Blacks in response to the civil rights movement. Their ability to get away with it reveals why most of today’s proposals to make police more accountable are bound to fail, and how we can do better.

Matthew D. Lassiter

Class & Inequality, Race

“Progress for People of Color Doesn’t Come at White Folks’ Expense”

A conversation with Heather C. McGhee about the zero-sum thinking that has long dominated American attitudes to race and wealth—and how to organize to secure public goods for everyone.

Heather C. McGhee, Archon Fung

Class & Inequality

Employers, Not Immigrants, Hurt American Workers

Non-college-educated U.S.-born workers have every reason to be enraged by declining wages and living standards, but more restrictive immigration policies won’t solve these problems.

Ruth Milkman

Race

Police Reform Doesn’t Work

A century of failed liberal attempts at policing reform in Minneapolis supports the view that none of the city council’s current proposals will prevent there from being another George Floyd.

Michael Brenes

Race

Slave Rebellions and Mutinies Shaped the Age of Revolution

Several recent books offer a more complete, bottom-up picture of the role sailors and Black political actors played in making the Atlantic world.

Steven Hahn

Philosophy & Religion, Politics

Polarization or Propaganda?

Two rival theories paint very different pictures of the sources of our democratic dysfunction. The debate won’t be settled by accusations of political convenience.

C. Thi Nguyen

Class & Inequality

Amazon after Bessemer

Unions are just one element of a broader push to transform the company. Coalitions forged during the pandemic point the way forward—with a radical vision of worker and community control.

Nantina Vgontzas

Science & Nature

AI’s Future Doesn’t Have to Be Dystopian

The direction of AI development is not preordained. It can be altered to increase human productivity, create jobs and shared prosperity, and protect and bolster democratic freedoms—if we modify our approach.

Daron Acemoglu