August 17, 2009 | The Nation

In the Magazine

August 17, 2009


Browse Selections From Recent Years













Calvin Trillin on late-night comics, Gary Younge on the Henry Louis Gates arrest and Ruth Scurr on the the French Revolution


Band-Aid Malfunction

Ann Arbor, Mich.


Three Americans, including Shane Bauer, a contributor to The Nation, went missing while on a hiking trip in Iraqi Kurdistan and are presumed to be detained by Iranian authorities. A fourth member of their party provides insight into their trip here.

Did Obama sell out? If House Democrats don't insist on the government's prerogative to bargain for lower prices, reform is impossible.


Obama shouldn't tone down his rhetoric on contentious subjects like racial profiling and executive bonuses. In fact he should emulate politicians of the past who often went off script with stirring results.

With healthcare reform, the White House has transformed an intimate issue into a technical argument about long-term actuarial projections.

A haunting documentary shines a light on the foreign "fixers" who work behind the scenes with reporters to determine how the story of war gets told.

Prison-based gerrymandering; a college journalist's big scoop about Bill Clinton; our day in court

Banks and financial institutions were never "too big to fail." State and local governments are.



The average American is paying for the banking debacle not only in taxes for the bailout but with lost jobs and homes.

Eight professional boxers died under dubious circumstances during one month this summer. Why hasn't there been a national outcry for industry reform?



For Henry Paulson and his son Merritt, the taxpayers of Portland, Oregon, must look like geese with an infinite supply of golden eggs.

Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s arrest most certainly was a "teachable moment" in the racial conversation--but we've learned nothing.

No racial profiling took place with Henry Louis Gates Jr.; it's not the "teachable moment" for which many are so understandably eager.


A single platoon lost in a military limbo is a measurement of the stress under which the US Army now operates.

Despite vast advances in India's economy, human rights in one of the world's largest democracies remain a major issue. From abuses by police to political violence, India has a long way to go toward protecting the basic rights of its citizens.

Despite the State Department's announcement canceling Blackwater's contracts in Iraq, the Obama administration will pay the company more than $174 million for security services in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Besieged by Israel and the West, mired in civil conflict and under increasing Islamist pressures, Gazans feel the world has forgotten them.

If progressives are serious about economic and healthcare reform, they must embrace the same approach with Obama they once took with FDR and "make him do it."

On the 64th anniversary of atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki the threat of a nuclear war remains potent. US nuclear policy hasn't changed enough since the Bush years.

Two new studies indicate that Wall Street's profits and bonuses are vastly disproportionate to the value the industry adds to the economy.

Sworn statements filed in Federal Court allege that Blackwater founder Erik Prince launched a "crusade" to eliminate Muslims and Islam.

On July 25 Kurdistan held both presidential and parliamentary elections. A new, stronger opposition with more seats in the parliament indicates a change in the political landscape in the region.

Álvaro García Linera, Bolivia's Marxist vice president, talks about gender equality, the right wing and how natural gas has paved the way for a rebirth of socialism in his country.

Silvio Berlusconi's latest sexual escapade is the talk of Italy, and now the world. Maybe we should be paying closer attention to evidence of far more sinister hookups.


Obama says he wants a freeze on Israeli settlement expansion. If that's the case, he should turn his attention to the US-based nonprofit that encourages American immigration to the West Bank.

Intelligent science reporting has been gutted--just when we need it most.


How California got into this mess.

Books & the Arts


Polish poetry has been captive to our most flattering verdicts about history.


The French Revolution as seen from Versailles.


Scrutinizing the machinery of the "straight state."

3rd Party Article

Laura Dean Washington takes notice as 80 Million Strong summit plans millennial matters.



 1 and 4 It may keep you from getting involved with something personal. (5,9)