If you’re a reader of the Washington Monthly, you’re clearly not one of those “low information voters” who needs to be reminded that there’s a world-historic election taking place and you should pay attention to the issues and candidates and have a plan to vote. If anything, you’re probably paying too much attention—and suffering considerable anxiety as a result.
Truth is, there’s a limit to how much one person’s doomscrolling can alter the course of historical events. So, for your sanity, we invite you to take a little break from the campaign and peruse the November/December issue of the print magazine, which we’re releasing today. Mercifully, there’s nothing in it on “crosstabs” or “recall vote weighting” or whether the entire race hinges on the Assyrian vote in Michigan.
Instead, you’ll find stories and essays calibrated to expand your knowledge without wearing down your soul. Our cover package consists of nine thoughtful reviews of books on politics, history, and cultural criticism—including Matthew Cooper’s delightful take on Johnny Carson, Sara Bhatia’s balanced appraisal of Woodrow Wilson’s legacy, and Garrett Epps’s insights on the unique power of the U.S. Supreme Court. And in his editor’s note, Paul Glastris offers a personal reflection on why growing up in a home without books made him a lifelong fan of book reviews.
Meanwhile, our features deliver deeply reported stories on vital subjects that deserve our attention regardless of what happens on Tuesday. Phillip Longman shows how the monopolization of freight rail is hampering America’s industrial comeback. Courtney Radsch reports on how artificial intelligence is far more dependent on high-quality, human-made information than anyone thought—which means human content creators, including journalists, have far more leverage over the industry than anyone realizes. Rob Wolfe uncovers a little-understood industry that controls who gets recruited for college. And Zachary Marcus reveals how online sports betting threatens to become the next opioid crisis—and how to fix its most predatory practices.
So put on some tea, kick up your feet, and let your spinning mind come to rest in these pages. After you’ve taken time to read these pieces, the election will still be there. That, for better or worse, we can promise.
Enjoy the issue,
The Editors
FEATURES
AI Needs Us More Than We Need It
Without a constant stream of high-quality, human-made information, artificial intelligence models become useless. That’s why journalists and other content creators have more leverage over the future than they might know.
By Courtney C. Radsch
Train Drain
How deregulation and private equity have gutted the U.S. freight rail system—and with it, the promise of America’s industrial renewal.
By Phillip Longman
The App Always Wins
Online sports gambling companies use sophisticated and deceptive techniques to exploit problem gamblers. The same technologies could be used to protect the addicted, if government would only demand it.
By Zachary Marcus
The Student Recruitment Industrial Complex
We tend to think about equity in higher education in terms of how colleges treat students who apply. But long before that, a little-known industry called enrollment management decides who gets the glossy brochures and who gets ignored.
By Rob Wolfe
EDITOR’S NOTE
An Unliterary Childhood
Why growing up in a home without books made me a lifelong fan of book reviews.
By Paul Glastris
BOOKS
He-e-e-e-re’s Johnny!
He dominated late-night television for 30 years, before our shoutfest era. A new biography of the reclusive Nebraskan is also an elegy for a lost America.
By Matthew Cooper
A Millennium of Conflict
Russia’s identity, not its security or the fear of NATO, has historically been the main driver of Moscow’s aggression toward Ukraine. But is the war really a genocide?
By Tamar Jacoby
Why They Reign Supreme
A fresh and readable one-volume history of the Court explains how we got from Marbury to Dobbs.
By Garrett Epps
The Regressive Era
A new biography of Woodrow Wilson puts the 28th president’s racism and sexism at the center of its narrative—and his world-historic domestic and international achievements on the periphery.
By Sara Bhatia
Modi Operandi
A chronicle of the rise of Indian nationalism offers lessons for defeating our own version.
By Daniel Block
Who Will Protect the Watchdogs?
Inspectors general have fought for accountability in U.S. government for decades, with varying success. They will be prime targets in a second Trump administration.
By Mike Lofgren
The Tyranny of the Welfare Queen
For decades, the conversation about social services in America has centered on a false and harmful stereotype about who deserves help.
By Anne Kim
The New Christian Right
The charismatic religious movement that supports Donald Trump is less misogynistic and racist than the old Moral Majority, but far more determined to crush liberalism by any means necessary.
By Ed Kilgore
From President to Convict
Jonathan Alter takes us inside the hush money trial that made Donald Trump the first ex-president felon in American history.
By James D. Zirin
