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Vol. 23 No. 8December 2012
Columns
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Schools in the Crosshairs
Starry-eyed education reformers have found yet another panacea for saving public education: parent-trigger laws.
Notebook
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The Collapse of Black Wealth
Prince George’s County was a symbol of African American prosperity. Then came the housing crisis. -
Afghanistan Sketches
Illustrator Victor Juhasz spent three weeks in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Here, a sampling of his work.
Culture
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CSI: David Byrne
An investigation of music’s power by one of its great polymaths -
Want Less Inequality? Tax It
Revive the big idea of British economist Arthur C. Pigou! And apply it to America's most outrageous problem. -
The Best of David Foster Wallace
When the novelist learned to escape his own mind, he got a little closer to the greatness he sought. -
The Measure of All Things
How markets beat out citizenship to define our public life -
Abe, Daniel ... and Henry
Before Daniel Day-Lewis played Lincoln, another actor's portrayal was legendary. On Henry Fonda's forgotten greatness.
Features
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Joel Klein's Misleading Autobiography
What the former chancellor of New York City schools' sleight of hand tells us about education reform -
Seeing Is Believing
Eyewitness testimony is unreliable and leads to wrongful convictions. Why has the judicial system not taken note? -
A Strategic Plan for Liberals
What’s the road map for a progressive future? -
Greedy Geezers, Reconsidered
In the current downturn, the vast majority of the elderly are suffering along with the young. The right cure would help both generations. -
Pre-K on the Range
Rural, conservative, impoverished Oklahoma has built the nation’s brightest model for early education. -
I Was a Teenage Conservative
For a young Southern Californian coming of age in the early ’60s, the right with its emphasis on individual freedom was enormously appealing. What better way to rebel against liberal smugness? Then, the right betrayed itself. -
Organize Every Precinct
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Vol. 7 No. 23September 2012
Columns
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States of Play
Down-ticket races matter a lot in shaping policy—that's why conservatives are smart enough to invest in them. -
Obama and the Art of Not Getting Credit
Notebook
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Holy Rollers
The Nuns on the Bus are just one example of progressive dissidents challenging the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.
Culture
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Ghosts of Ballots Past
On Rick Hasen's riveting look at voting wars since Florida—and the anguished history of how we got there in the first place -
The Hidden Candidate
Mitt Romney wants to be president, but he doesn’t want us to see him. -
The Great Conservative “No!”
William F. Buckley’s heirs are starving on a red-meat diet. -
Laura Is a Punk Rocker
The lead singer of Against Me! changes gender and challenges the male punk scene.
Features
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Battle of the Romney Plans
Does Mitt’s or George’s approach to raising black student achievement make more sense? -
Angela Merkel's Bad Medicine
The German chancellor’s remedy of austerity is killing Europe, and the failure to contain financial speculation is spreading the epidemic. -
As Common As Dirt
In the fields of California, wage theft is how agribusiness is done. -
The Border Effect
The fence along the U.S.–Mexico boundary has helped reduce the flow of illegal immigrants, but the human and environmental toll has been enormous. -
If Labor Dies, What's Next?
The only way unions can regain their strength and provide a counterweight to corporate power is if liberals join the fight.
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Vol. 6 No. 23July 2012
Culture
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Our Most Widely Ignored Public Intellectuals
Why don't those in power listen to economists Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman? -
How the Gay-Rights Movement Won
Linda Hirshman's new book tries to uncover how the LGBT movement accomplished so much in such a short span of time. -
The Mother of All Girls' Books
The secret subversiveness of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women
Up Front
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The Democrats' Demographic Dreams
Liberals are counting on population trends to doom Republicans to a long-term minority. They shouldn’t.
Departments
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The Sixties at 50
Half a century later, the battles of the 1960s--and the effects of one great wrong turn by liberals of that time--are still with us.
Features
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Pressing On the Upward Way
A profile of life in one of the country's poorest counties -
The Geography of Getting By
Vendors in Los Angeles' MacArthur Park fight for their right to sell. -
School for Success
Capital Idea, an innovative long-term job-training program in Austin, helps lift the working poor out of poverty. -
Seeing What No One Else Could See
Fifty years ago, Michael Harrington’s The Other America awoke the nation to the prevalence of poverty in its midst. -
The State of Poverty in America
The problem is worse than we thought, but we can solve it. -
Mismeasuring Poverty
The way we determine who needs help blocks many poor people from receiving the assistance they need. -
Where Work Disappears and Dreams Die
In Gary, Indiana—the former “Magic City” of industrial might—jobs have left, and so has almost everything else. -
Creating a Countercyclical Welfare System
Clinton-era reforms mean that our safety net is weakest when we need it most.
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Vol. 23 No. 5June 2012
Culture
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The Good Lyndon
Finally, Robert Caro lightens up on LBJ. -
Too Big to Imagine
Steve Coll's Private Empire tells you every last thing about ExxonMobil—except what to do about it. -
Our Battle Scars
The Cause tells how liberals gave America the best of the 20th century. So why is it so hard to be one?
Up Front
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Big Sky's the Limit
Like many congressional races around the country, Montana’s Senate contest is being defined by previously unthinkable levels of outside spending.
Departments
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Hard Times, Scary Prospects
Help save The American Prospect at this critical juncture in the magazine—and the nation's—history. -
Schools of Doom
Why, after a decade of reform, is American education still in crisis?
Features
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Keyboard Jihadist?
The government prosecuted Tarek Mehanna because of what he wrote online in a case that raises fundamental questions about First Amendment rights in post-9/11 America. -
Mitt Romney, Servant of the Right
Those who believe the former Massachusetts governor would become a moderate once in office are wrong. -
The Romney Foreign-Policy Agenda
The next president will face critical challenges, but Mitt Romney has offered no clear vision of America's role in the world. What can we learn from his team of advisers? -
The Pro-Life Paradox
Why are anti-abortion legislators cutting essential funds for special-needs children?
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Vol. 23 No. 4May 2012
Culture
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Charles Murray, the Long View
In 1984, the right's star public intellectual wrote the book that drove welfare reform. Coming Apart is an alibi for his own failed big idea. -
Vive la Mère
Is breastfeeding the new patriarchy? Elisabeth Badinter overstates her case—and overlooks what the French can really teach us about raising children. -
Part Two: Charles Murray, the Long View
Coming Apart caps three decades of faux concern for the poor. -
Dreams from My President
Three and a half years after his election, Barack Obama remains a mystery to many Americans. -
Power Failure
Two new books on why nations gain and lose wealth and power miss the real story. -
Rebuilding the World
Anthony Shadid's final book on the remaking of a house in Lebanon -
The Case of the Vanishing Middle Class
Timothy Noah's The Great Divergence deftly explores the roots and resurgence of American inequality.
Up Front
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Mad Money
With right-wing fears rising over the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy, Republican state legislators want to create their own currencies.
Departments
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Three Roads from the Supreme Court
None of the options for health-care reform is ideal, but the most likely path forward would be through action in the states. -
The New Wave
Politicians going after birth control had no idea what they were in for.
Special Report
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Still Ain't Satisfied: The Limits of Equality
The LGBT-rights movement should fight for economic and social justice—not simply de jure civil rights. -
Exporting the Anti-Gay Movement
How sexual minorities in Africa became collateral damage in the U.S. culture wars
Features
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Don't Blame "Corporate Personhood"
Citizens United decimated what remained of campaign-finance reform, but the damage has been long in the making. -
The Man the Banks Fear Most
Wall Street's gone largely unpunished for its role in wrecking the economy—until New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman came along. -
The Death and Life of Detroit
Neighborhood groups are bringing the blighted city back, one block at a time. Will City Hall stand in their way?
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