Synopses & Reviews
For 135 years The Nation magazine has embodied the critical spirit of dissenting journalism, giving voice to the passionate witnesses whose engagement with today's controversies has startled, provoked, and entertained. As E. L. Doctorow wrote of The Nation, "The editors never published anything less than what was urgently on their minds." Here is Patricia Williams on the Million Man March; Tony Kushner on gay liberation; William Styron on Prozac and Halcion; Susan Sontag on Bosnia; Jonathan Schell on the case for abolishing nuclear weapons; and Erica Jong's response to the Modern Library's list of the past century's 100 greatest books -- a list of her own. Finally, Michael Moore asks, "Is the Left Nuts? Or Is It Me?"
Review
"Its circulation is modest, but The Nation's contributors are first-rate. These selections from the 1990s (just one per author) produce (unintentionally, the editors confide) 'a unique archive of the issues, values, institutions, and personalities which preoccupied, united and divided, and ultimately defined the indpendent, democratic left' in that decade. Cornel West remembers Michael Harrington; Deborah W. Meier discusses public school choice; Mike Davis considers Los Angeles' riot/uprising; Paco Ignacio Taibo II discusses the Zapatistas; Susan Faludi asks, 'Does Maureen Dowd Have an Opinion?' Michael Moore wonders, 'Is the Left Nuts? (Or Is It Me?).' There's poetry from, among others, W.S. Merwin, Philip Levine, Allen Ginsberg, and Nation regular Calvin Trillin; and illustrations from, among others, Edward Sorel, David Levine, Art Spiegelman, and Gary Trudeau. The Gulf War and the drug war, the collapse of the U.S.S.R. and the impeachment of a president are but a few of the subjects discussed here. Lively, opinionated commentary on issues that matter." -- Booklist
Review
"So for those who missed enlightenment the first time around, The Nation has kicked off its own publishing imprint with a collection of rabble-rousing essays from the magazine. The Best of The Nation, edited by Victor Navasky and Katrina vanden Heuvel (publisher and editor, respectively) is like a cocktail party thrown by the Merry Pranksters of the intellectual left." -- St. Petersburg Times
Review
"For over 135 years, The Nation has provided thoughtful, lively political and social discussion from a leftist perspective. A 1990 Anthology (The Nation, 1865-1990: Selections from the Independent Magazine of Politics and Culture) presented an excellent selection of articles from 1865 through 1990. This new volume covers the last decade of the 20th century. Over 90 authors, such as E.L. Doctorow, Christopher Hitchens, Arthur Miller, Salman Rushdie, Cornel West, Susan Sontag, Michael Moore, and Gore Vidal, cover the Gulf War, the end of communism and the Cold War, Bosnia, the Clinton administration, gender and sexual politics, and a range of other issues. As editors Navasky and vanden Heuvel point out in their opening note, the volume presents an alternative history to the 1990s, one undisclosed by the bulk of modern mass media. This excellent work is recommended for all libraries." -- Library Journal
Review
"One might say that for the last one hundred thirty-five years, The Nation has acted as our journalistic alert-system, warning of dangers too often invisible to even the most alert." -- Gore Vidal, from his Foreword
Synopsis
For 135 years, The Nation magazine has embodied the "critical spirit" emblematic of dissenting journalism. This selection of articles and essays from the last decade articulates that spirit -- its commitment, idealism, and skepticism -- giving voice to the passionate witnesses whose engagement with today's controversies have startled, provoked, and entertained. As E.L. Doctorow has written of The Nation, "The editors never published anything less than what was urgently on their minds." The collection illustrates the magazine's steadfast support for civil rights and civil liberties, opposition to racism in all its guises, and unrelenting struggle against militarism, imperialism, corruption, and abuse of power.
About the Author
VICTOR NAVASKY and KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL are, respectively, publisher and editor of The Nation magazine. Victor Navasky is the author of Naming Names, winner of a National Book Award. Katrina vanden Heuvel is the editor of an anthology, The Nation 1865-1990, and is co-author of Voices of Glasnost.