Essays
1103 results
Page 1

In today's America, parenting itself can be an act of patriotism.
Parenting toward what I know our country can be.
As a kid, Jill Ivey loved donning American flag fashion for the Fourth of July. Today, with her own child born between two Trump administrations, she marks the holiday in a different way, as a parent resisting injustice.

Essays
5 minute read

Books are dangerous. That’s why we need the freedom to read them.
This Fourth of July, I’m reading something radical.
Anndee Hochman grew up reading Judy Blume, unaware of how controversial her books were. Today, after raising her own daughter, she knows what book-ban proponents do not: reading is a fundamental freedom.
Essays
6 minute read

The Painter’s Fire: A Forgotten History of the Artists Who Championed the American Revolution, by Zara Anishanslin.
The little-known patriots whose art helped spark a Revolution
Some American patriots fought with words or swords, but others aided and abetted the Revolution with their art, both in the Colonies and abroad. They are illuminated in The Painter’s Fire, a new book by Zara Anishanslin. Gail Obenreder reviews.

Essays
4 minute read

This Fourth of July, we need a narrative revolution.
Writers and artists lead America’s nonviolent fight for justice.
The Trump administration is trying to rewrite reality and history. Cass Lewis says we’re not going to let them, if writers and artists have anything to say about it.

Essays
5 minute read

The Untied States: 249 years later, America’s still not great—but it could be.
This is our country’s first real chance at greatness. Will we take it?
The Trump administration has brought the United States to a crisis—but only because it revealed what has been there all along. Lindsay Gary asks if we have the courage to respond by making America great for the first time ever.

Essays
5 minute read
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In America today, joining the jury isn’t just a civic duty. It’s an ethical one.
American justice relies on jurors more than ever.
After serving on a jury earlier this year, An Nichols was surprised by her relationship to her fellow jurors, and learned about the outsize impact jurors can have at the local and national level.

Essays
4 minute read

The romantasy genre subverts women’s agency when we need it the most
Is romantasy regressive?
The new romantasy genre—a mashup of romance and fantasy wildly popular with women—is actually full of regressive themes that deny women’s agency and political stakes. Chhaya Nayyar considers.

Essays
5 minute read

The PMA’s Boom sparks a closer look at women in the art and design of the 1940s
What did the transformative decade of WWII mean for women artists?
Boom, a new exhibition at the PMA surveying American art and design in the global tumult of the 1940s, also offers a chance to reflect on evolving roles for women in American art history. Wendy Univer considers.

Essays
7 minute read
Could the Wanamaker Building become a hub for Philly’s 250th anniversary events?
Let’s meet at the Eagle for the Semiquincentennial
When plans got underway for Philly’s celebration of America’s 250th birthday, organizers didn’t know that the beautiful and historic Wanamaker Building would go empty with the closure of Macy’s. Walt Maguire asks if 2026 events could fill it up.
Essays
4 minute read

Can you pass this quiz on the first 100 days of Trump’s second term?
See how your knowledge stacks up before education is banned in the US
Essayist Anndee Hochman challenges those of us who may need a break from the news with this quiz about our current federal government.
Essays
5 minute read