Danny Dorling— Over the past 160 years our numbers have doubled and doubled and almost doubled again. Never before have we seen such a huge rise in human population in so few generations. Never again will we. Today our population growth is slowing down. In 1859 Charles Darwin wrote of
Cass R. Sunstein— Was there ever a writer like John Reed? Swashbuckling, mischievous, exuberant, and vain, he was both insufferable and difficult to resist. Here’s how McCarter introduces him: “John Reed prowls the docks, laughing with the sailors, chatting up the whores.” Walter Lippmann knew Reed well, and in an
Andrew W. Kahrl— It was a hot and hazy August afternoon in the summer of 1975. The line was long, and tempers were short. Outside the entrance to Hammonasset State Park, sunburned arms dangled from the sides of cars, children’s heads rested on windows, and idle drivers burned fuel that
Robert Skidelsky— The need for economists to think about economics became apparent after the global financial crisis of 2007–2008. Few economists predicted the crash; more damningly, few envisaged the possibility that such a collapse could occur, any more than the crash of an algorithmic system. Students of economics asked: what
Nancy Reynolds and Malcolm McCormick— The twentieth century was an era of revolutionary changes occurring with explosive rapidity. In the political arena, we saw two world wars, “ten days that shook the world,” and the spread of democracy as monarchies fell; thanks to science we have nuclear energy and global
Michael A. Soukup and Gary E. Machlis— President Biden’s recent proclamation for National Park Week and the annual observance of National Park Week itself testify to the value of national parks to our nation. Our natural heritage has shaped us as a nation, a culture, and as individuals. That legacy
Clyde Prestowitz— After becoming President in 2016, Donald Trump abandoned the “positive engagement” trade and investment policies on China that had guided U.S. Presidents since 1982 along with the free trade doctrine that America had embraced since 1948. In response, the U.S. economics and foreign policy establishment exploded, calling these
Zizi Papacharissi— The list is staggering: a president who tweeted incessantly and in polarizing ways; a pandemic the might of which we had not seen for 100 years; civil rights violations unacceptable in a country purporting to be a global democratic leader exposed from a veneer of political correctness by
Spring officially arrived this past weekend, bringing with it the reminder that roughly one year has passed since the United States first entered lockdown. Maya C. Popa’s poem, “Spring,” recalls that initial period when time and season seemed to “persist” without us. It suggests the grief and isolation felt amidst
Alex Brummer— Here is something you are unlikely to have read about in the pandemic year. Of all the countries in the world fighting Covid-19, Britain, in spite of its chaotic response to the pandemic and high death count, has done more than most countries on earth to meet the challenge