Will India Win?

India needs to unlearn China's lessons

– Xuefei Ren

India’s leaders have instinctively looked to China for the secrets to national success. The impulse often serves them poorly.

India's Foreign Policy Fog

– Michael Kugelman

India stands poised to create a new role for itself on the world stage. Indians don't agree on what that role should be.

Writers, Technology, and the Future

– Edward Tenner

The future of writers — and the articles, novels, and nonfiction books they create — ultimately rests with those who read them.

Precipices

– Margaret Paxson

During World War II, villagers in a French farming community rescued thousands of Jews and other refugees, while most Europeans spectacularly failed to hinder the genocides in their midst. What set the villagers apart?

We need clear guidelines for when and how drones can be used

– The Wilson Quarterly

Are drones an instrument of war or justice?

Looking at Tocqueville's blind spots

– The Wilson Quarterly

"Tocqueville was deeply worried by American individualism, equating it with corrosive selfishness."

In what circumstances is a political candidate's character important?

– The Wilson Quarterly

When candidates agree, we care more about character. When they disagree, we care less. Why?

Economic growth (as the U.S. knew it in the 20th century) is over

– The Wilson Quarterly

Never again will we see living standards double in a few decades, as they did between 1957 and 1988.

‘Cash for clunkers’ turned out to be a lemon

– The Wilson Quarterly

It didn't create new car sales; it sped up ones that would've happened anyway.

Revisiting an alarmist classic

– The Wilson Quarterly

"The Limits to Growth" was a mega-hit and bestseller when it was published in 1972. It was also way off in its predictions.

“Black America” isn't a monolith. Quit acting like it is.

– The Wilson Quarterly

Fantasies of a monolithic "Black America" distort our national conversation on race and policy.

The “poverty line” is way off. How should we redraw it?

– The Wilson Quarterly

Want to identify society’s most disadvantaged? It's not just about income.

The Kosher Renaissance

– The Wilson Quarterly

On eating kosher in the modern world.

Mormonism’s surprising radical communitarian origins

– The Wilson Quarterly

Joseph Smith called for Zion to be a classless commune in which Mormons would “hold all things in common."

How the way we talk about Native Americans distorts our actual history

– The Wilson Quarterly

In earlier times, Native Americans often tended large farms. You wouldn’t know that from reading most scholars’ work.

“Good art is now simply defined as art that sells.”

– The Wilson Quarterly

In assessing artistic value, markets have taken over the function that ideas used to have.

Mozart versus the Vatican

– The Wilson Quarterly

Mozart's Miserere.

The Many Lives of Memory

– The Wilson Quarterly

Remembering H.M. and the incredible discoveries his brain allowed scientists to make.

First, newspapers, then books. Silicon Valley's next target? Schools.

– The Wilson Quarterly

What iconic American industry does it have in its crosshairs now? Education.

The man who brought us the phrase "paradigm shift"

– The Wilson Quarterly

Before it became a meaningless buzzword, it was a major leap forward in scientific theory.

Putin's Tomb

– The Wilson Quarterly

By manipulating elections, Putin managed to conceal his regime’s deepest secret—namely, that rather than being misgoverned, Russia is governed very laxly if at all.

Germany’s low book prices are good for publishers. What about readers?

– The Wilson Quarterly

Talk about a "binding agreement."

The Key to Africa's Growth

– The Wilson Quarterly

Does Africa stand any chance of becoming an industrialized, middle-income continent in the near future?

China's Imaginary Middle Class

– The Wilson Quarterly

The development of a Chinese middle class faces a formidable obstacle: Mao-era policies governing access to employment and education.

Infinite Rest

– Jared Brosky

The loss of David Foster Wallace is still hard to measure.

History for "We the People"

– Brooke Allen

All evidence to the contrary, we continue to believe, deep in our hearts, that the Founders’ “We the People” meant all the people, not just the propertied white men.

Bloody New World

– Graham Hodges

A look at transatlantic migration in the colonial era.

Disability and Democracy

– Stephen Kuusisto

A history of disabled people in the United States.

Failure to Lead

– Brian McAllister Linn

With the exception of a few senior commanders (and recently promoted junior officers), the global war on terror hasn't been kind to the reputation of U.S. Army generals.

Feeding the Masses

– C. Peter Timmer

What's the problem? The problem is economics. And politics. And markets.