Richard Kahlenberg has long championed race-neutral means to achieve liberal ends. His new book meets the moment.
Books
Book reviews and essays from the Washington Monthly on the new books shaping debates over politics, policy, history, and American democracy.
Posted inBooks
How the Digital Age Changed Us
Two new books on high tech and social media examine the toll of relentless shopping, engagement, and the tyranny of the “like” button.
Posted inBooks
How Khrushchev Underestimated Kennedy
A veteran correspondent’s memoir reveals the humanity and misjudgment of the Soviet leader who sparked the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Posted inBooks
An Abundance of Ambiguity
Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson argue that a world of plenty awaits us if we reform zoning and environmental laws and everyone moves to San Francisco. But that can’t be the whole plan, right?
Posted inMagazine
A Tech Billionaire Attacks His Own Kind
Alex Karp, CEO of the digital military contractor Palantir, thinks other Silicon Valley behemoths waste their time chasing clicks rather than bad guys—and that the decline of college Western Civ classes is to blame.
Posted inBooks
Why We Need a New Tennessee Valley Authority
In the 1930s, public power agencies like the TVA forced private utilities to electrify rural America. Today, the same strategy can challenge the investor-owned electric utilities that are blocking the spread of renewable energy.
Posted inBooks
The Long Shadow of Robert Moses
How popular blowback to the New York City planner’s excesses led to generations of distrust in government.
Posted inBooks
Michael Lewis’s Case for Government
Amid Trumpian chaos, the best-selling author and other top writers are heralding stories of bureaucrat heroes and a public sector we desperately need.
Posted inBooks
In Sherman’s Wake
The hidden story of enslaved Georgians who, however briefly, seized freedom during the Union general’s famous march to the sea.
Posted inBooks
An Iron Hand Loses Its Grip
Mitch McConnell wielded power deftly for decades, only to see his party and the institution he loved fracture around him.
