Abram de Swaan— Today’s devil incarnate is the militia known as the Islamic State. So far it has done everything in its power to deserve the title. But it is only the latest in a long sequence of adversaries that were considered by the West as the embodiment of evil,
Philip N. Howard— Since the great tragedy of Charlie Hebdo, politicians and pundits around the world have succumbed to the notion that social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, are to blame for violent online extremism. They argue that social media is not only a conduit for terrorists it is
Melissa R. Michelson— If you want to get depressed about the health of our democracy, do a quick Internet search for news about voter turnout. Almost every link is to a headline about low or poor turnout expected in the 2014 midterm elections. Despite a wealth of close races and
Lisa Garcia Bedolla— If voters of color don’t vote on Tuesday, don’t be surprised. The New York Times recently published a story on the dramatic advances in campaign data analytics since the 2008 election. According to the Times, “modern political campaigns home in on their key voters with drone-like precision,
Keiko Hirata— Sixty-nine years ago today, Hiroshima suffered the first nuclear attack in world history. Three days later, Nagasaki was similarly attacked, and within another week, what Japan calls “the Pacific War” had ended. Japan has changed enormously in the last seven decades, transforming itself from an impoverished and defeated
In his sweeping new book, Austerity: the Great Failure, historian Florian Schui tackles the central economic debate sprung from the Great Recession: whether decreasing government spending will renew economic growth. To this debate, Schui brings vital historical perspective – a look at the dismal track record of austerity policies over
Read the profile of Cass Sunstein in the May 2014 issue of The Atlantic! Follow @CassSunstein From last minute impulse buying at the grocery store to the way we treat the environment, it goes without saying that we are sometimes prone to making decisions that are not in our own best
Tennent Harrington Bagley, author and former C.I.A. officer, passed away on Feb. 20 in Brussels at the age of 88. While working for the C.I.A., Bagley assisted a Soviet spy, Yuri Nosenko, turn against Russia, only to believe this spy was a double-agent. Bagley spent many years trying to prove
Listen to the podcast interview for The Terror Courts on iTunesU! Follow @JessBravin On the Yale Press Podcast, in conversation with Yale University Press Director John Donatich, author Jess Bravin revealed: “It was one of the commission’s big advocates, Senator Lindsey Graham, who told me, in effect, that you needed to put
Follow @yaleRELIbooks See all 20% off titles in our YUP Backlist History promotion! It’s good practice, if you are going to argue with something, to aim at the best version of that thing you are arguing with. In Reason, Faith, and Revolution, Terry Eagleton argues that opponents of religion