Recollections of George Orwell
Imagine Don Quixote without his horse and his drooping whiskers, and you will get a fair idea of what George Orwell looked like. He was a tall and angular man, with a worn Gothic face that was elongated by vertical …
Winter 2026
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Kafka In Russia
Kafka’s recent entry into Russia has a history of its own. For several decades the visionary from Prague belonged—theoreticall he still belongs—to the Unholy Trinity of Proust, Joyce, and Kafka. This Trinity has been condemned in Russia on every possible …
Hands: a story
The author of this story—which first appeared in the Polish magazine Kultura published in Paris—is at present serving a five-year term at forced labor somewhere in the Soviet Union. He was recently sentenced together with another Russian writer, Abram Tertz. …
Reflections on Literature as a Minor Art
I am setting down the following melancholy reflections not with any hope of a remedy, but because the matter is important and nobody else seems to be saying it. In many ways literature has, in this century, become a minor …
What We Talk About When We Talk About “The Uyghurs”
How did Western media accounts transform China’s Xinjiang region from an obscure, exotic district into a hotbed of terrorism?
The Radical Ellen Willis
For Willis, rock was sex, which was Freud, which was Marx, which was labor, which was politics and therefore a reason to vote or protest.
The Polygamists Come Out
The house in Sister Wives looks less like the home of a fundamentalist family than a functional commune.
1% Museum: The Guggenheim Goes Global
This year Gulf Labor’s newly formed direct-action wing—the Global Ultra Luxury Faction—has created a PR nightmare for the Guggenheim.
Pussy Riot in Translation
Did Pussy Riot’s protest change the course of Russian history, or merely make its members famous abroad?
Can New York City Survive the Sea?
How did the largest city in the United States become the most prone to flooding?
From a Tangle of Pathology to a Race-Fair America
Today’s wealth and employment gaps shatter the myth of a post-racial America.
Putin’s Cold New World
What we have observed in Ukraine confirms that Vladimir Putin’s Russia is irredeemable.
Reforming the Banks for Good
Today, the top banks are larger than they were before the crisis and engage in many of the same behaviors that led to the financial meltdown. How can we end “too big to fail” once and for all?
Full Employment and the Path to Shared Prosperity
There are many policies that can reduce inequality, but there is none as straightforward conceptually and as difficult politically as full employment.
Good Jurors, Bad Laws 
After convicting Occupy activist Cecily McMillan of felony assault on a police officer on May 5, twelve jurors walked into the light and discovered that they had, perhaps, condemned the twenty-five-year-old to turning thirty on Rikers Island. “Most just wanted …
