The Anderson Files
The long shadow of 1968
In 1968, the world turned upside down. There was political upheaval on all continents. Rebellions were almost entirely unplanned and unorganized. Popular historian Mark...
Hope — if we are committed
In the last several years, a new conventional wisdom has emerged in the West about conflict in the Middle East. World leaders, public intellectuals,...
Is gun machismo destabilizing the US with paranoia and murder?
The pandemic inspired a gun-buying surge. Americans purchased approximately 60 million guns between 2020 and 2022, according to The Trace, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news...
Social solidarity or culture war
We are supposed to be in the middle of a “culture war” but it is really a conflict about how we define social solidarity...
Despairing Johnstown workers and the election
Anxiety, dread, fear. Almost 70% of Americans said the presidential election is a substantial source of stress, according to the American Psychological Association’s Stress...
A progressive, populist message leads to Democratic victories
A growing number of Americans are dissatisfied with both political parties and the quality of candidates, according to a recent poll by Pew Research. Nevertheless,...
U.S. aid to suppress Palestinians and democracy
Something unprecedented is happening in U.S.-Israeli relations. There has been a mainstream cliché that Israel is “the only democracy in the Middle East.” It...
Laugh first, fear later
The Conservative Political Action Conferences (CPAC) were once fringe events. Since Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party, they represent the mainstream of the right...
A new Poor People’s Campaign
Fifty years ago in January 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference launched the Poor People’s Campaign to protest the...
What we need to learn from Viking economics
In these days of Trumpian madness, George Lakey offers hope for progressives looking for strategies of social change. He has written a wonderful book...
GOP racism and Trump
Donald Trump’s zigzags on race can be confusing. He holds a polite, presidential-style press conference with the president of Mexico and then goes to...
Lessons from Nixon and Kent State
Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We’re finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming
Four dead in Ohio.
— Neil Young, “Ohio”
Something ugly...
