American Vistas

America’s Edge

– Martin Walker

Take some favorable demographics, add a generous shot of American ingenuity, and stir in a very large quantity of natural gas, and you have the beginning of a bright new American future.

The Withering of the Affluent Society

– Robert J. Samuelson

Though Americans see upward mobility as their birthright, that assumption faces growing challenges, with consequences not just for the size of our wallets, but for the tenor of our politics.

Open Doors

– Steven Lagerfeld

For 36 years, it has been The Wilson Quarterly's central preoccupation: What's on the horizon for the great American experiment?

Beyond the Brain

– Tanya Marie Luhrmann

In the 1990s, scientists declared that schizophrenia and other psychiatric illnesses were pure brain disorders that would eventually yield to drugs. Now, they are recognizing that social factors are among the causes, and must be part of the cure.

The Dawn of Market Urbanism

– Witold Rybczynski

A better approach to shaping the places in which we live has emerged just as Americans responding to the rising cost of energy begin to crowd into older suburbs and cities.

The Campaign Triumphant

– Gil Troy

They're long, exhausting, and sometimes appalling, but America's raucous presidential campaigns are also testimony to the success of its continually evolving democracy.

How to bring back the Constitution

– The Wilson Quarterly

There's a huge difference between judicial constitutionalism and political constitutionalism.

Are Americans segregating themselves by their political beliefs?

– The Wilson Quarterly

Experts disagree. Here's why.

Why Felons Can't Vote

– The Wilson Quarterly

How does the 14th Amendment figure into all of this?

Will Iran Defeat Itself?

– The Wilson Quarterly

Leaders in Washington and Tel Aviv discuss whether sanctions or military force is the best way to deal with Iran. But what about another option - doing nothing?

Are election observers obsolete?

– The Wilson Quarterly

Their impact is waning as some regimes ramp up pre-election manipulation — which is less likely to be criticized and punished.

Are UN treaties just window dressing?

– The Wilson Quarterly

Or are they more effective than some may think?

Frayed in the U.S.A.

– The Wilson Quarterly

Exports will resurrect America's economic might, but they won't improve Americans' incomes.

Global warming in my backyard

– The Wilson Quarterly

If Americans care about global warming, why isn't that reflected in their fuel choices?

Did the 1965 Immigration Act backfire?

– The Wilson Quarterly

How immigration quotas and harsh enforcement backfired.

A Prescription for Health Care?

– The Wilson Quarterly

Health care costs are sucking the country dry. Here's a way to change that.

Should we take for-profit colleges seriously?

– The Wilson Quarterly

Higher education's wily newcomer.

HuffPost Rising

– The Wilson Quarterly

How in the world did the crazy-eyed news site ascend to such heights?

The Scatological Luther

– The Wilson Quarterly

Martin Luther, lover of the scatological joke.

In Defense of Scholasticism

– The Wilson Quarterly

"Scholasticism” has long been a synonym for the worst kind of pedantry.

The Emperor's New Clothes

– The Wilson Quarterly

Some of Virgil’s dim view of conquest is hiding in plain sight.

Glossed in Translation

– The Wilson Quarterly

Mussolini banned all foreign words in pop culture — a practice that continued well after his reign ended.

Gertrude Stein's Buried Beliefs

– The Wilson Quarterly

Less known than her art: she was a supporter of France's Nazi-collaborationist Vichy regime.

Linguists at War

– The Wilson Quarterly

Chomsky vs. Everett, round one.

Denying the Climate Deniers

– The Wilson Quarterly

Climate change deniers are conveniently overlooking important nuances.

The Russian Math Deluge

– The Wilson Quarterly

What was a collaborative boon for some American academics turned out to be a liability for others.

The end of the British welfare state as we know it?

– The Wilson Quarterly

Britain is one of the bastions of the modern welfare state, but that may not be true for much longer.

Don't Blame Madrasas

– The Wilson Quarterly

If you want to know how terrorists are groomed, look beyond the walls of these Islamic religious schools.

Bad Medicine for the Congo

– The Wilson Quarterly

The Congo is riven with corruption and intense “grassroots antagonisms over land and power.”

Remembering the Holocaust

– Walter Reich

Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany fought two wars. One was a war of conquest against armed countries. The other was a war of annihilation against Jews.

The Color of Friendship

– Emily Bernard

“If we’re not talking about why black people and white people don’t hang out and play Scrabble together, we’re not talking about the problem.”

Proud American: Lyndon Johnson and "The Passage of Power"

– Aaron Mesh

The "Johnson treatment" meets the "Kennedy mystique" in Robert Caro's latest installment on Lyndon Baines Johnson.

Orwell's Record of Achievement

– Michael O'Donnell

When Orwell discovers one of his own contradictions, wrote Christopher Hitchens, “he tries his best to be aware of the fact and to profit from it.”

The Juvenilization of American Christianity.

– Cullen Nutt

Inside the American cult of youth.

The Powers That Be: The Dictator's Learning Curve

– Thomas Rid

Today’s dictators and authoritarian regimes are “far more sophisticated, savvy, and nimble” than those of the past.

What's an Ideal Education?

– James Morris

What should college look like?

A Sage's Advice

– A. J. Loftin

Reviewing "Psychology's Ghosts."

Is the U.S. the "most Philosophical Nation on Earth"?

– Troy Jollimore

America is "an unprecedented marketplace of truth and argument that far surpasses ancient Greece, Cartesian France, 19th-century Germany, or any other place one can name over the past three millennia."

A Brief History of Internal Time

– Rob Dunn

The story of the daily rhythms of our bodies begins with the study of the skies.

Guided by Voices

– Darcy Courteau

Reviewing "Words Like Loaded Pistols: Rhetoric from Aristotle to Obama."