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Bush's Monica Moment (June 23, 2004)
Clinton's affair with Monica called his character into question; Bush's true colors emerged on 9/11. By Jack Beatty.

History's Fools (May 19, 2004)
In the wake of Iraq, the term "neo-conservative" may come to mean "dangerous innocence about world realities." By Jack Beatty.

The Party of the People (April 22, 2004)
The Republicans, unlike the Democrats, have delivered what their constituency wants. By Jack Beatty.

The Faith-Based Presidency (March 25, 2004)
You can question Bush's veracity, his grip on reality, and the rationality of his policies, but not his faith. By Jack Beatty.

Free Trade vs. Good Jobs (February 25, 2004)
What led America's early leaders to break the law of free trade? Should we break it again? By Jack Beatty.

The Real Real Deal (January 26, 2004)
While John Kerry suffers from "terminal Senatitis," John Edwards exudes life and optimism. By Jack Beatty.

President Coolidge's Burden (December 31, 2003)
A recent biography places Coolidge's failed presidency in the context of the deep depression he fell into after the death of his son. By Jack Beatty.

Who Can Beat George W. Bush? (November 26, 2003)
The pundits are whispering that either Dean or Gephardt is likely to be the Democratic nominee. Which one of them can win? By Jack Beatty.

The Friedman Principle (October 29, 2003)
The influential New York Times columnist's vision of spreading democracy through the Arab world is this era's domino theory—and it is just as misguided. By Jack Beatty.

"A Miserable Failure" (September 24, 2003)
Will Bush be re-elected? Only if voters wittingly ignore his long list of failures while in office. By Jack Beatty.

The War After the War (August 21, 2003)
The attack on the UN will slow our efforts to rebuild Iraq—and further undermine our legitimacy there. By Jack Beatty.

The Ideal Candidate (July 9, 2003)
What qualities would someone need in order to defeat George W. Bush? An imaginary dialogue. By Jack Beatty.

When the Sun Never Sets (June 6, 2003)
The nefarious effects of Bush's latest tax cut will continue on, and on, and on. By Jack Beatty.

Fatal Vision (May 1, 2003)
Can we control the forces of religion unleashed by the war in Iraq? By Jack Beatty.

A Country of Fear (April 2, 2003)
Iraq will be better off after the war. But will America? By Jack Beatty.

In the Name of God (March 5, 2003)
Bush's rhetoric suggests that he feels God has chosen him to lead the U.S. against "Evil." Is that why Bush is dragging us into an unprovoked war? By Jack Beatty.

The Road Better Not Taken (Februay 5, 2003)
A war against Iraq could be the most catastrophic blunder in U.S. history. By Jack Beatty.

The Track to Modernity (January 2, 2003)
In a century of riotous change, the railroad's standardization of time stood out as a challenge to both nature and democracy. By Jack Beatty.

The War for Nonvoters (November 27, 2002)
The "party of nonvoters" is 120 million strong. Whoever corrals them will hold the key to future elections. By Jack Beatty.

The Temptation of War (October 23, 2002)
A new memoir by Daniel Ellsberg, the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers, warns that Presidents will do anything to avoid losing wars. By Jack Beatty.

Pearl Harbor in Reverse (September 25, 2002)
Iraq, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the question of a pre-emptive strike. By Jack Beatty.

Feckless in Washington (August 21, 2002)
Bush's economic team inspires little confidence at a time when confidence is badly needed. By Jack Beatty.

The Resignation Principle (July 10, 2002)
An open letter to Christine Todd Whitman. By Jack Beatty.

A Living, Breathing Eternal City (June 26, 2002)
A new book on Rome will help travelers there experience the city that Romans know. By Peter Davison.

The Expulsion From the Magic Kingdom (June 5, 2002)
September 11 was America's Fall. Now we need to rethink national defense in an era of national insecurity. By Jack Beatty.

A Culture of Credulity (May 8, 2002)
By investing the Church and its priests with absolute authority, lay Catholics have unwittingly helped create a historic moral scandal. By Jack Beatty.

Good Times for the Bad Guys (April 10, 2002)
Enron is but one (grotesque) example of corporations that show no loyalty to their employees yet demand loyalty in return. By Jack Beatty.

The Enron Ponzi Scheme (March 13, 2002)
How many people were "Enroned"? How wide will the circle of corruption spread? By Jack Beatty.

Warring Doubts (February 13, 2002)
Many have died in Afghanistan to make us more secure. Are we? By Jack Beatty.

The Inner Titan (January 17, 2002)
In Giants of Enterprise, a portrait of seven American entrepreneurs, Richard Tedlow looks at what it takes to be a titan. By Jack Beatty.

The Real Roots of Terror (December 5, 2001)
The autocratic regimes of Saudi Arabia and Egypt distract their citizens from repression at home by directing their anger toward the U.S. By Jack Beatty.

Elitism for Everyone (November 29, 2001)
Auden, Trilling, Barzun... and Oprah? A consideration of two very different book clubs sheds light on the Franzen Affair. By Scott Stossel.

Listening to America (November 7, 2001)
What we can learn from the "anguished, angry, fearful, plucky" voices of citizens talking about September 11 and its aftermath. By Jack Beatty.

Politics as Usual (October 3, 2001)
In America, history shows, war does not override the calculus of politics. By Jack Beatty.

The Bumbling Communicator (September 6, 2001)
Television has finally found a President who speaks its language. By Jack Beatty.

The Man Behind the Movement (August 8, 2001)
Lyndon Johnson won the 1964 election, but Barry Goldwater won the war. By Jack Beatty.

Truth and Consequences (July 5, 2001)
A look at The Boston Globe's "front-page mugging" of the historian Joseph Ellis. By Jack Beatty

Cannibalistic Capitalism (June 7, 2001)
White-Collar Sweatshop details the indignities of working in corporate America, where workers are paying the price for increased competition. By Jack Beatty

Plunder on the Right (May 2, 2001)
Arsenic, global warming, and George W. Bush's re-election strategy. By Jack Beatty

Hitler's Willing Business Partners (April 4, 2001)
A look at IBM and the Holocaust, a shocking account of Big Blue's dealings with Nazi Germany, and what some critics have failed to grasp. By Jack Beatty

The Crooked Timber of Humanity (March 8, 2001)
A review of Philip Roth's recently completed trilogy of novels, a "moral history of post-war America with a fierce dialectical intelligence." By Jack Beatty

The Search for the Smoking Gun (February 7, 2001)
A look at David Kessler's A Question of Intent and the gripping moral, scientific, and political story of Kessler's battle against Big Tobacco. By Jack Beatty

Prime-Time Propaganda (January 10, 2001)
What the election revealed about Jennings, Brokaw, Rather, Lehrer, et al. By Jack Beatty

The Burden of Florida (December 14, 2000)
The cavalcade of racial injustice that was the Florida recount. By Jack Beatty

Gore in Aught-Four? (November 30, 2000)
What Al Gore knows—and Republicans only pretend not to. By Christopher Caldwell

The Spirit of Party (November 22, 2000)
Florida, November 2000. Two partisans, one Republican and one Democrat. An imaginary dialogue. By Jack Beatty

Does Gore Deserve to Win? (November 1, 2000)
An analysis of Gore's many failures—and why none of them outweigh the importance of defeating Bush. By Jack Beatty

My Father's Politics (November 1, 2000)
A look at George Packer's Blood of the Liberals and the plight of the would-be liberal today. By Scott Stossel

Fuzzy Economics (October 12, 2000)
George W. Bush is right—the era of big government being over is over. Even if he's the one elected. By Christopher Caldwell

The Tyranny of Belief (September 13, 2000)
Some politicians, including Joe Lieberman, would blur the line between religion and politics. By Jack Beatty

The New New South (September 13, 2000)
In recent decades the South has been a Republican stronghold. Times are changing. By Christopher Caldwell

Leftward Bound (August 23, 2000)
Can you teach a New Democrat old tricks? Gore's gamble with Lieberman. By Christopher Caldwell

The Legacy Haunting Gore (August 9, 2000)
Trade, not scandal, is the legacy of the Clinton years that could cost Gore the election. By Jack Beatty

The Issues That Aren't (July 26, 2000)
Where does George W. Bush stand on Microsoft? Where does Al Gore stand on Kosovo? On Big Tobacco? You don't know? You're not alone. By Christopher Caldwell

The Democratic Difference (July 12, 2000)
Ralph Nader says the Republican and Democratic parties are indistinguishable. A look at the record on labor, "the issue our era will be measured by," reveals quite another reality. By Jack Beatty

Your Morality, My Values (June 28, 2000)
Values and morality may sound like the same thing, but Democrats have been able to capitalize on one, while Republicans remain stuck on the other. By Christopher Caldwell

Who Owns Capitalism? (June 15, 2000)
Has democracy at last caught up with capitalism? A look at the balance of power between the corporation and society. By Jack Beatty

Joe Sixpack's Revenge (May 17, 2000)
If the authors of two new books are right, it's time for Republicans to give class warfare a chance. By Christopher Caldwell

Governing Globalism (May 3, 2000)
A look at the protests in Washington, Runaway World, and globalization's good and bad sides. By Jack Beatty

Be Afraid (April 6, 2000)
If the digital revolution produces the dystopian nightmare envisioned in the April issue of Wired, humanity's only hope may be the end of capitalism as we know it. Try selling that in an election year. By Jack Beatty

The Uses of Sprawl (April 6, 2000)
A look at Suburban Nation, the New Urbanism, and how Democrats can reap the benefits of the sprawl they helped to create. By Christopher Caldwell

Tagging After Teddy (March 22, 2000)
Why Teddy Roosevelt—"an egomaniacal weirdo"—is an unlikely hero to both Republicans and Democrats. By Christopher Caldwell

Bush vs. Gore (March 8, 2000)
Scenes from the first presidential debate of the 2000 election campaign. By Jack Beatty

The Populists' Progress (February 24, 2000)
Right-wing populists, like Austria's Jörg Haider, are gaining ground in Europe. Is America next? A look at populism on both continents. By Christopher Caldwell

Reform Politics! (Then What?) (February 16, 2000)
Does John McCain have an agenda beyond reforming the political process? What would a McCain Administration do? By Jack Beatty

The Electorate Bobby Built (January 26, 2000)
A new biography paints Robert F. Kennedy as a Machiavellian monster. How, then, did he get to be a liberal icon? By Christopher Caldwell

Sidewalk Economics (January 26, 2000)
Mitchell Duneier's Sidewalk, a new study of street vendors on Manhattan's Sixth Avenue, turns assumptions about race, class, and social values upside down. By Charles Davis

McCain and the "Bloody Chasm" (December 30, 1999)
Why the liberal press loves John McCain. By Christopher Caldwell

A New Deal for the New Economy (December 8, 1999)
Is this the best economy in years? It depends on whom you ask and where in the world they live. By Jack Beatty

Is W. Inevitable? (November 17, 1999)
It looks like George W. Bush has the nomination in the bag—but does he? By Christopher Caldwell

Step Right Up (October 15, 1999)
What does the Reform Party's cast of odd characters suggest about the state of American politics? Think Fellini. Think David Lynch. By Scott Stossel

The Billionaire's Curse (September 1999)
Jack Beatty reviews Michael Lewis's The New New Thing—a profile of Jim Clark, the malcontented founder of Netscape and Silicon Graphics. By Jack Beatty

Sex and the Social Critic (August 1999)
Jack Beatty on Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut—and what the film's detractors failed to see. By Jack Beatty

Most Valuable Player (July 1999)
A look at Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism, a new book examining the economic impact of his Airness. By Jack Beatty

All the Presidents' Man (June 1999)
Jack Beatty reviews Name Dropping, the new book by John Kenneth Galbraith, and recalls the days when liberals were cool. Seriously. By Jack Beatty

Slaves' Wages (May 1999)
What price can be put on the exorbitant theft of labor that was American slavery? A look at a new work of history that suggests an answer. By Jack Beatty

Playing Politics With the Planet (April 1999)
A forecast of the 2000 election predicts squalls and continued global warming. By Jack Beatty

How Big Business Got a Soul (March 1999)
Early in this century, advertising and public relations helped give corporate monoliths a new image, shaping public opinion in the process. A look at a new history of how it happened. By Jack Beatty

Against Inequality (April 1999)
A valiant proposal to give every American twenty-one-year-old the same chance to prosper (or fail).
by Jack Beatty

What Work Costs Us (February 1999)
Richard Sennett's The Corrosion of Character, a book that examines the demoralizing effects of the new "flexible" economy. By Jack Beatty

Downsizing Days Are Here Again (January 1999)
The return of big corporate layoffs—and what the government can do. By Jack Beatty

Unsparing Witness (December 1998)
Most of us know that transgressions like Thomas Jefferson's were common. But few are aware that the topic of sex and slavery was treated openly and unflinchingly in the nineteenth century by an Englishwoman named Harriet Martineau. By Jack Beatty

Newt's Last Stand (November 1998)
Christopher Caldwell, the author of last June's "The Southern Captivity of the GOP," on why Newt Gingrich couldn't save his party from its paralysis. Plus, Jack Beatty offers "A Modest Proposal" to Republicans in search of a unifying issue. By Jack Beatty

The Last Refuge of the American Bigot (October 1998)
The murder in Wyoming and the search for the roots of anti-gay violence. By Jack Beatty

The Dissipation of Decency (August 1998)
The real political scandal these days is the abandonment of those without health insurance. By Jack Beatty

America, Inc. (July 1998)
Gain, the new novel by Richard Powers, makes the corporation the shaping force of American history. By Jack Beatty

Do the Right Thing (June 1998)
Think globally, act ethically.
by Jack Beatty

The Graveyard of the American Dream (May 1998)
What's behind California's decline, and what's at stake for the rest of the country. By Jack Beatty

Games of Monopoly (April 1998)
A new biography of John D. Rockefeller reminds us that capitalism, like history, repeats itself. By Jack Beatty

The Price of Longevity (March 1998)
An examination of the price of long life. By Jack Beatty

The King of Drudge (February 1998)
A look at a new biography of the man behind the assembly line—whose ideas need to be acknowledged and abandoned. By Jack Beatty

Color Us Green (January 1998)
A heretical new approach to economics puts ecology first—and may change the way we think about growth. By Jack Beatty

The Deep Slumber of Decided Opinion (December 1997)
Those who hail the virtues of trade without limits are this era's reactionaries. By Jack Beatty

A Barbarous Frenzy (November 1997)
A review of The Rape of Nanking, a new book documenting China's "forgotten Holocaust." By Jack Beatty

Let Them Eat Empathy (October 1997)
The era of big government has given way to the era of sharing leftovers. By Jack Beatty

Down With Majority Rule (September 1997)
Imagine an America where the majority does not rule. That may be what's needed to resuscitate our political system. By Jack Beatty

Talkin' About a Coalition (August 1997)
Is there a new Democratic majority in the making? Perhaps, but what will it stand for?

Nasty NAFTA (July 1997)
It's time for Congress to rein in NAFTA. By Jack Beatty

The Full-Court Press of Reason (April 1997)
On newspapers and gut reactions. By Jack Beatty

They Both Do It (March 1997)
When it comes to campaign finance, there's just not much difference between Republicans and Democrats. By Jack Beatty

"Hunting, Hunting, Hunting" (February 1997)
A hefty, riveting profile of David Lean, one of this century's great filmmakers. By Jack Beatty

Flight or Fight (January 1997)
Wealthy Americans are evading taxes in unprecedented numbers, and the result is class warfare (fought by the rich, not the poor. By Jack Beatty

Victories without Victors (December 1996)
At the end of a century of liberal triumphs, nobody wants to take the credit. A musing on the curious transformation of the term "liberal" (from a description to an accusation. By Jack Beatty