Detroit is a place that demands experience, not observation. The powerful forces that converged there — the state, industry, and unions; of capital and labor — give it near-mythical status in the American imagination. read more »

It’s hard to come by a political optimism that isn’t served up with winking campaign propaganda or tone-deaf idealism, but two recently published books that survey the dark developments of our time through the eyes of preeminent intellectuals read like affirming challenges to forge a better world. read more »

If you’ve ever taken comfort in buying “certified fair trade” instead of just organic, or optimistic about driving a fully electric vehicle within the next five years, you’ll have to think again. read more »

In recent weeks, eyes around the world have been riveted on the standoff between the Obama administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the continuing construction of Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem. read more »

On May 1, join New York’s radical environmental organization Time’s Up! as they lead a bike ride from Union Square South to Brooklyn Museum’s free monthly party read more »

In the fall of 2002, I was part of a crowd in Washington, D.C., that consisted of around 1,000 demonstrators protesting U.S. policy in Colombia. Outside a Senate office building, the march splintered and shrank to a few hundred people, corralled into a park by nearly as many riot cops. read more »

The monster is Mexico City (known in Spanish as D.F., for distrito federal), and El Monstruo: Dread and Redemption in Mexico City is a brief history of Mexico through the monster’s eyes written by Nation and La Jornada contributor John Ross. read more »

In his new book, NYPD Confidential, Levitt follows the rise and fall of former Police Commissioners Lee Brown, Bill Bratton, Howard Safir and the now-disgraced Bernie Kerik. read more »

Jessica Clark and Tracy Van Slyke’s Beyond the Echo Chamber enthusiastically trumpets the rise in “citizen journalism.” The book further celebrates the information sharing that has resulted from the internet’s nearly ubiquitous presence. read more »

"Something is wrong with America’s moral imagination,” former U.S. poet laureate Robert Hass told the audience at the most recent Dodge poetry festival in New Jersey in fall 2008. read more »