The extraordinary rise of America’s special operations forces.
Books
Book reviews and essays from the Washington Monthly on the new books shaping debates over politics, policy, history, and American democracy.
Posted inBooks, Government, June/July/August 2015, Magazine
On Not Canonizing the Gipper
Efforts to elevate Ronald Reagan’s reputation to Rooseveltian heights continue. Time to stand athwart historians and yell “Stop!”
Posted inBooks, June/July/August 2015, Magazine
The Age of the Disengaged
Are Millennials really more alienated from politics than youth in generations past?
Posted inBooks, June/July/August 2015, Law and Justice, Magazine
Second Chance, My Ass
Ex-offenders need jobs to stay out of jail. But easy access to criminal records, a gift of the Internet age, means that employers won’t hire them.
Posted inBooks, Government, Magazine, March/April/May 2015
Operation Rent Seeking
How the war on terrorism became a business model.
Posted inBooks, Health Care, Magazine, March/April/May 2015
Death with Indignity
How Medicare and other federal subsidies rope the elderly into painful, futile, and costly end-of-life care.
Posted inBooks, Government, Magazine, March/April/May 2015
Welfare with an Ocean View
The federal government spends billions replenishing beaches for the affluent. The bill will soon skyrocket thanks to climate change.
Posted inBooks, Government, Magazine, March/April/May 2015
The Reckless Reign of W.
We are still living with the forty-third president’s legacy.
Posted inBooks, Economy, Magazine, March/April/May 2015
The Future of Work
The American Midwest and the Mexican border are the twin faces of economic globalization—and the upheavals they have endured are the new normal.
Posted inBooks, Government, January/February 2015, Magazine
The Rise and Fall of the U.S. Government
While other conservatives say that the American state has become too powerful, Francis Fukuyama argues that it has grown too weak.
