The Case for Reparations
Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.
June 2014
In This Issue
The case for reparations, the blaze that killed 19 firefighters, what drives Vladimir Putin, a boozy night with a Hollywood gigolo, Wall Street's $6 billion mystery, and more
Features
Fire on the Mountain
What went wrong last summer in Yarnell, Arizona, where a blaze killed 19 firefighters? Is it time to reconsider our approach to battling wildfire?
How the Novel Made the Modern World
And how the modern world unmade the novel
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Matt Dorfman Putting Ukraine in Its Place
From the current debates you’d never know what matters more: Russia’s land grab, Iran’s nuclear program, or China’s territorial claims. How America stopped thinking strategically.
Rami Niemi Funny or Die
How your sense of humor can improve your health, get you pregnant, and even save your life
John Cuneo The Gigolo
My night in with Vin Armani
Gregory Reid Spoiler Alert
Fresher food labels
Richard Drew/AP Is Herbalife a Pyramid Scheme?
Wall Street’s $6 billion mystery: Big investors are making opposite bets about the company’s future.
Nishant Choksi So Long, Partner
The curious staying power of husband and wife
Álvaro Domínguez Making Babies
Five predictions about the future of reproduction
How the Rich Shall Inherit the Earth
Who are the new plutocrats, and how did they get to the top oftheworld?
Peter Oumanski Little Emperors
In Sweden, a backlash against the rule of children
Krzysztof Odziomek/Shutterstock Clown-Fish Family Values
A very short book excerpt
The Culture File
Zohar Lazar The Game That Conquered the World
What is the appeal of Minecraft? It’s the limitless creation of one’s own reality.
Tim McDonagh Flash Fiction
How Stuart Dybek, a master of the short story, captures elusive memories and moments
Edel Rodriguez What Putin Wants
Respect, sure, but also money. How that shapes his relations with the West.
Photograph by Associated Press; Illustration by Jackie Lay Scalia v. Scalia
Does his faith influence his judicial decision making?
Patrick Leger Ship of Wonks
Looking for love on a cruise for science nerds
The Denver Post/Getty Has Craft Distilling Lost Its Spirit?
Too many stills, too little expertise
FSG Pain Tourism
Travels in the land of empathy
Departments
The Conversation
Responses and reverberations
The Big Question
What is the most influential song of all time?
