Review
List of Review articles
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An illustration of a blooming plum branch shows a statue of Chairman Mao at left with workers walking across a bridge before the scene turns into one of growth and modernity with city skyline plane and construction cranes. What Produced the China Miracle?
A powerful new book challenges conventional wisdom about the role of the state in Beijing’s rise.
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A photo collage of historic black-and-white images of Soviet leaders: Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, and Mikhail Gorbachev, are toward the front, and a larger cutout of Joseph Stalin looms over them in the background. Behind that is a textured red background with the yellow hammer and sickle symbol of the Soviet Union. Putting the Cold War on the Couch
A new psychological analysis of Soviet leaders fundamentally alters 20th-century global history.
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A woman in a futuristic suit lifts her hand above her head as she looks into the distance. Behind her is a robot soldier with a human head and a Western vigilante in cowboy hat and long coat, with a hole where his nose should be. The True Horseman of the ‘Fallout’ Apocalypse
Amazon’s adaptation of the video game knows what Americans should really be afraid of.
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A crowd of students kneel on the ground with their faces pressed against it as they duck from clouds of tear gas in a film still from 1968. Columbia, Chicago, and the Movies About ’68
Exploring the parallels between the social unrest of then and now on film.
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A photo collage illustration shows Navy brass pictured with Fat Leonard raising glasses against a backdrop of Navy ships in the Pacific. Overlaid text reads: Wanted by U.S. Marshals next to a round image of Fat Leonard applying a spa facial mask. ‘Fat Leonard’ Was a Crook U.S. Admirals Called Bro
In the Navy, you can do as you please.
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U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about the situation in Kabul, Afghanistan from the East Room of the White House on August 26, 2021 in Washington. The Original Sin of Biden’s Foreign Policy
All of the administration’s diplomatic weaknesses were already visible in the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
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A historic photograph shows a group of workers surrounding a man who is weighing opium at a factory. The Opioid High of Empire
Two new books turn a spotlight on how the colonial past lives on in unacknowledged ways.
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From left: Robert Downey Jr.—who plays several roles—Duy Nguyen as Man, Hoa Xuande as the Captain, Fred Nguyen Khan as Bon, and Sandra Oh as Sofia Mori. HBO’s ‘The Sympathizer’ Leans Into the Tragic Absurdity of the Vietnam War
The series lampoons the military, academia, and Hollywood portrayals of the era.
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A ripped American flag rests abandoned along a road during a protest in response to the Republican National Convention being held in Charlotte, North Carolina. Democracy Has Run Out of Future
The underlying reason for the West’s democratic crisis may be a lost sense of open-ended time.
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The sun sets over the first offshore wind farm in France, off the coast of the western city of Saint-Nazaire. Can Wind and Solar Solve Climate Change?
A new book unwittingly makes the case that they can’t.
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A photo illustration shows a hand holding up a Neanderthal skull to examine it in the style of Shakespeare's character Hamlet performing the "Alas, Poor Yorick!" monologue. The Real Meaning of Humanity’s Origin Story
A new book shows what human prehistory has mistakenly taught us—and misunderstands what it still can.
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An illustration shows the Colosseum of the Roman Empire juxtaposed with a digital sphere and iconography for a story about digital superpowers. The New Empires of the Internet Age
Cyberspace has upended the old world order.
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A woman wearing a dress with floral details and loose sleeves looks straight ahead. She is flanked by flags and statues of large cats in the background. ‘The Regime’ Misunderstands Autocracy
HBO’s new miniseries displays an undeniably American nonchalance toward power.
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Kirsten Dunst is shown in a still from the Civil War film at a military base. ‘Civil War’ Succeeds Because Its Politics Make No Sense
The nightmare scenario is extra terrifying because of its dreamy lack of logic.
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Four book covers of: India Is Broken, Price of the Modi Years, City on Fire: A Boyhood in Aligarh, and Midnight’s Borders: A People’s History of Modern India. 4 Books to Understand Modern India
Is the world’s most populous country booming or broken?
