The slaveholding oligarchy was defeated in the Civil War. But concentrations of wealth and power continue to threaten our democracy.
Books
Book reviews and essays from the Washington Monthly on the new books shaping debates over politics, policy, history, and American democracy.
Posted inApril/May/June 2018, Books, Magazine
Liberal Democracy Is Not the Problem
With authoritarianism on the rise at home and abroad, now is no time to give up on the American experiment.
Posted inBooks, Featured
The Fallacy of the Free Market
Democrats’ vision that our broken economy simply needs to correct for market failures has its limits.
Posted inBooks, Featured
Dear Democrats, Don’t Despair
Even in the age of Donald Trump, at least in some ways, things have never been better.
Posted inBooks, Featured
How the Senate Went off the Rails
Trump’s presidency makes the urgency of repairing the upper chamber all the more apparent.
Posted inBooks, January/February/March 2018, Magazine
Take My President … Please!
Comedy’s challenge in the age of Trump.
Posted inBooks, Featured, January/February/March 2018, Magazine
Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Babysitters
Gender discrimination in the workplace begins earlier than you think.
Posted inBooks, January/February/March 2018, Magazine
Trade Secrets
How economists kept their doubts about globalization quiet, and ushered in Trump.
Posted inBooks, January/February/March 2018, Magazine, Main
The Still-Ugly American
Could a legendary Cold War spy’s “hearts and minds” strategy, which failed in Vietnam, have worked in Iraq and Afghanistan? It’s a tough sell.
Posted inBooks, January/February/March 2018, Magazine, Main
Monks With Machetes
Why Buddhist nationalists are leading the ethnic cleansing in Myanmar.
