1. The Man Who’s Been in Charge of Running the World
You might imagine Prince’s gaze to have distracted even political minds, but according to scholars at Yale and Cambridge, anyone who knows what he’s doing wouldn’t have overlooked his successor, Prince Philip, who has been signing documents in his stead on national visits for the past 40 years. The bumbling statesman has often left hosts scratching their heads, but the royals have found ways to accommodate him. Was he a state clown? An invisible guest? Here’s how Philip has maintained such deep influence on the monarchy and world affairs.
2. Clinton: The Crime That He Wouldn’t End
The new ebook: Closer than we thought. Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton lays out her case in a personal and direct way, saying what some of her most ardent defenders still refuse to say: People were killed and no one is getting to the bottom of the circumstances. Here’s Hillary’s side of the story, condensed and revised from two new interviews with New York magazine and the New York Times.
3. The Men Who Act Like Women
For years, women have viewed the “male gaze” to be a male club — one that relies on powerful looks to elicit validation and acceptance. But sometimes, a look is a harsh reality. In an edited excerpt from the Atlantic magazine’s new book, The Men Who Act Like Women, a pathbreaker of non-binary street performance is investigated in historic settings, and one actress feels if she’s in an even remotely public situation, it’s fair game for sexism. The ensuing reflections on experiences of gender in the public sphere are rarely uplifting.
4. Pussy Riot, Russian Blowhards & Activism in Inequality
Amid the American intrigue, the four members of Pussy Riot — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina, and Yekaterina Samutsevich — have suffered a great deal. Living as political criminals, they’ve not just been threatened, they’ve been punished. Here, their interviews will make for eye-opening reading.
5. The Paris of the Trump Era
A new book explores the cultural cachet of the transnational economic elites who make up the so-called Trump company and host lavish parties in Paris. It’s an up-close-and-personal view of a favorite Paris venue of reality TV star Piers Morgan, a state dinner for Bill Clinton and an international leadership conference featuring Michelle Obama and Bill Gates.
6. The Three Trumps
How does a man who had only a cursory knowledge of politics manage to drive the GOP to a modern age of hyper-parochial extremism? James S. A. Thurber examines how Donald Trump built the first presidency in the ethos of the nativist candidate who pledged to imprison Hillary Clinton and win 40 state primaries.
7. The ACLU, Party Animal and Galactizer
Inside the U.S. branch of the venerable human rights organization. In 1995, Daniel Lichter studied ACLU success strategies for responding to clients with racist ideology, and came up with a post-election checklist of what activists would need to accomplish on Donald Trump’s watch. If Trump had won the election, Lichter realized, “Would the ACLU have won in 1965? No.” Here’s a taste of his reflection on the lessons from today’s Arizona chapter.
8. The Demolition of State in S. Carolina
When Nikki Haley announced her departure, the presidential hopes of Trump’s state fell behind her. If she’s back, Nikki Haley could be as much of a force as Jimmy Carter and Colin Powell, the former presidents who have wielded public office as “resurrection forces.” And that’s saying something, given Trump’s unpredictable moods.
9. Inch by Inch, Century by Century
Washington, D.C., might be a region that doesn’t really have a future, but it’s home to at least some highly stable top institutions. Here’s some brief profiles of public institutions Washington boasts — institutions that saw the building boom of the 20th century and are currently under construction.
10. It Takes a Village
Since the hit musical Hamilton first made waves on Broadway last year, the show’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, has soldiered on with a solo show of his own. Now, he’s working on his next project, which will take him back to his roots and revisit the grittiness of Hamilton —