In 1954, the CIA enlisted a right-wing radio host and a US senator in a plot to spread propaganda convincing Americans to boycott Guatemalan coffee — all to destabilize a democratically elected government the US would soon help overthrow.
How Global Finance Drove Deindustrialization
Economist Ann Pettifor explains how America’s industrial decline has its roots in the dismantling of the international monetary system established at Bretton Woods and in the rise of a global financial system that prioritizes capital mobility over production.
Corporate Consolidation Fuels the Decline of Skiing
Most ski resorts operate on vast swaths of land owned by the public. So why has skiing become such a cost-prohibitive pastime for most Americans?
Thermonuclear Slop and the Return of the Bomb
We are bumbling toward an AI-enabled, nuclear-curious World War III. A new book urges us to get over antiwar protest burnout and cynicism and to rebuild the long-dormant Cold War movement to ban the bomb.
Can We Break Out of Our Hyperpolitical Moment?
In Western democracies today, intense political polarization is the norm, and mass protests are not uncommon. Yet ordinary people remain far from the levers of power.
If Zohran Mamdani is serious about delivering on his promises, he needs more than policies — he needs institutions that empower working people. Popular assemblies offer a way to build a new, bottom-up political culture in New York City.
Give 16-Year-Olds Something to Vote for, Not Just the Vote
Austria’s experience with 16-year-old voters shows that expanding the franchise does little to restore trust when elections amount to a choice between managed decline and the far right.
Trump Wants a “Video Game War” in Iran
Donald Trump has resurrected the military fantasy of the “video game war,” waged mostly through high-tech, lethal air power with few US casualties. But his administration may have miscalculated the ease of what can pass as victory.
With Chuck Norris, the Meme Was the Message
Twenty years before Donald Trump was posting AI images of himself as a king, the internet learned how to meme by exaggerating the masculine superiority of Chuck Norris. What began innocently with “Chuck Norris Facts” has evolved into MAGA’s empire of slop.
Namibia’s Workers Spearheaded Its Fight for Independence
After more than a century of German and South African rule, Namibia finally gained its independence on this day in 1990. Working-class struggles and organizations played a vital role in the country’s long march to freedom.
Neoliberalism didn’t win an intellectual argument — it won power. Vivek Chibber unpacks how employers and political elites in the 1970s and ’80s turned economic turmoil into an opportunity to reshape society on their terms.
The Inheritors of an Unfinished Revolution
Growing up after the monarchy’s fall, Nepal’s youth are confronting a republic that transformed political institutions while leaving the underlying social order intact.
How Adults Took Over YA
By treating young adult fiction as a laboratory for professional-class moralizing, the publishing industry has effectively abandoned actual teens.
Before the Punk Rockers, There Were the Working-Class Teds
British class society had a dress code: the rich could be flashy, but workers were expected to wear a drab uniform. In the 1950s, England’s working-class Teddy Boys and Girls boldly donned pompadours and velvet, giving birth to modern British subculture.
Budgeting Scolds Are Gaslighting Struggling Americans
The affluent often blame poverty on bad budgeting skills, claiming the poor just need to be taught financial literacy. But working-class people require living wages and a functioning safety net, not condescending lectures about money management.