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.
21029 Article(s) by: Opal Lee
Opal Lee is a writer.
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.
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.
Celebrities Can’t Save Opera. Public Funding Can.
Timothée Chalamet’s offhand jab at “dying” high culture sparked celebrity outrage. But without robust public investment and democratic ownership, opera and ballet will keep shrinking into elite pastimes instead of surviving as vibrant public art forms.
The US Is Spending Billions to Bomb Iran
The Trump administration has spent around $24 billion in public funds on its war against Iran so far. Here’s what that money might have been used for instead.
The Minecraft Marxists
The proletarian revolution is playing out on a desktop near you.
Christian Zionists Helped Stoke Trump’s Iran War
The Christian Zionist movement has long pushed for regime change in Iran. With allies in Donald Trump’s inner circle and its ideas seeping into the US military, it has played a key role in building support for the current war.
Europe Is Sanctioning Critics of Israel and Militarism
Sanctions were once sold as a gentler foreign policy tool for exerting pressure on dictatorships and terrorist organizations. Yet measures like banning individuals from having bank accounts or traveling are increasingly used to chill free speech in Europe.
Capitalism Has a Lot of Room to Redistribute Wealth Right Now
Some on the Left believe that the capitalist system will not tolerate any greater interventions in its operation or redistribution of its spoils. There is no good evidence that this is true.
Brazil’s Left After Lula
As Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva seeks his final term as Brazil’s president, the Left’s electoral strategy — who runs, which factions align, and how the coalition balances pragmatism with principle — is already shaping the post-Lula era of Brazilian politics.
Politics After Literacy
Postliteracy won’t replace reason with madness, but it might give us madness of a new and different type.
Julie Menin Is Protecting New York’s Ultrawealthy
Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani wants to tax the superrich to fund universal childcare and other urgent working-class needs. The oligarchic city council Speaker Julie Menin is trying to block his agenda.
The Many Invasions Survived by Lebanon
Israel is again invading Lebanon and displacing hundreds of thousands of people. With Israel determined to crush all forms of resistance, Lebanon has been dragged into a war it did nothing to start.
Jürgen Habermas’s European Illusion
The late Jürgen Habermas saw Europe as a vehicle for a social democratic, postnational politics. But as the real European Union increasingly diverged from this ideal, Habermas’s thinking failed to reckon with the project’s fundamental limits.
The Afghan-Pakistan War Is Spiraling Out of Control
Clashes between Pakistan’s military and Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers took a bloody turn this week as an air strike in Kabul killed at least 100 people. With world attention focused on the Middle East, there’s little sign of either side backing down.
Match Week Is a Scam That Exploits Medical Residents
Every year, an algorithm assigns thousands of medical students to residencies they can’t leave, can’t negotiate with, and can’t refuse. The Match system creates a captive workforce that stiffs residents and generates billions for the health care industry.
The Making of the Teenager
The teenager we know today came of age in the postwar era — but she owes her existence to the New Deal.
Sectarianism Has Never Ended a War
Amid the horrors of war, it’s always tempting for some on the Left to stake out more and more radical sloganeering. This was a dead end during the Vietnam War — mass action was not.
A Simple Demand: No Aid to Israel
Now is the moment for a presidential candidate who commits to cutting off all aid to Israel — whether it’s military or nonmilitary.