The Economic, Political, and Cultural History of Menswear

Menswear expert Derek Guy talks to Jacobin about where Western men’s clothing traditions came from, how they have evolved, and how they’re being continually reinterpreted.

The New Defense Bill Could Further Privatize Border Control

This year’s congressional defense spending bill would further entrench the military’s role at the US border and, for the first time, allow the Department of Defense to outsource border security work to private contractors.

What Americans Think of Democratic Socialism

A new national poll shows democratic socialism has made enormous strides over the last decade. But to grow beyond blue strongholds, its champions will need to continue to anchor campaigns in bread-and-butter economics.

Bolsonaro Is Finished. But Bolsonarismo Remains a Threat.

The historic sentencing of former president Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison signals the health of Brazil’s fragile democratic institutions. But it cannot provide a neat ending to the Right’s long-running assault on Brazilian democracy.

The Double Standards of Czech Foreign Policy

The Czech Republic’s prime minister, Petr Fiala, boasts of his defense of democracy and the rule of law. Yet faced with Israel’s crimes in Gaza, the Czech government can forgive its Western allies anything.

RIP to Robert Redford, a Star Who Knew How to Play the Game

Robert Redford was a man of the Left until the end and a patron saint of independent cinema. He will be missed.

Tech Capital Is Dominating American Politics

While Donald Trump assaults civil liberties and the social safety net, Democrats are lost. Capital’s continued dominance of both parties and Big Tech’s machinations in particular are key to understanding our political crisis, argues Thomas Ferguson.

The Left Needs Utopian Thinking

Conservative apologists for the status quo often stigmatize their opponents as “utopian.” But socialists and feminists shouldn’t be afraid of the term, since utopian thought can play an important role in helping us develop practical alternatives.

The Right Is Using Charlie Kirk’s Murder to Attack Free Speech

Over the past week since the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk, we’ve watched conservatives unabashedly take ownership of “cancel culture” and crack down on free speech right before our eyes.

Your Therapist’s Notes Could Become Fodder For AI

Tech companies are marketing AI-based note-taking software to therapists as a new time-saving tool. But by signing up, providers may be unknowingly offering patients’ sensitive health information as data fodder to the multibillion-dollar AI therapy industry.

Spanish Cycling Protests Reject Israeli Sportswashing

The Vuelta a España, Spain’s premier cycling stage race, saw the participation of team Israel–Premier Tech, organized to promote Israel’s reputation. Thousands of protesters disrupted the race on Saturday to decry the team’s sportswashing of genocide.

Passports for an Imagined Nation

Borders Books

Some recommendations from the Republic of Letters.

Orson Welles, South of the Border

After his post–Citizen Kane slump, Orson Welles teamed up with Universal for a big Hollywood comeback about corrupt police on the US-Mexico border. The executives balked at his vision — but today Touch of Evil is regarded as Welles’s final masterpiece.

Partisans on Ponies

One German’s idiosyncratic obsession with the American frontier led to an unlikely West German–Yugoslav cinematic partnership that fed the European appetite for cowboys and Indians.

Issue 59: Letters + The Internet Speaks

No border can contain our subscribers’ enthusiasm.

Building Civilization at Shenzhen Speed

Once the poorer neighbor of Hong Kong, Shenzhen has been transformed into a showcase for the speed, power, and dynamism of Chinese development — and a study in extreme inequality.

Walter Benjamin’s Graveyard

On the run from the Gestapo, Walter Benjamin committed suicide on the French-Spanish border in 1940. The place where he spent his last days now overlooks the most brutally policed border of the EU.

The Red Scare Blueprint

A 1917 effort to deport political radicals from Seattle became the model for all 20th-century deportation crusades.

How Can We Organize Immigrant Workers?

Bosses will always try to divide native-born and immigrant workers. Our response has to be unconditional solidarity.