Summer Into Fall
New clothes, AP classes, middle-aged angst. A New York City mom reflects on being pulverized by the first day of school.
america
A collection of 140 issues
Terrapin Station
All the magic of the Mojave Desert, or the Amazon rainforest, can be found in the salt marshes of New Jersey.
Our Better Shelves
After visiting more than 2,000 independent bookstores—at least virtually—the Amazon annihilation, Orwell misquotes and all, doesn't seem quite so inescapable.
Remnants of the Underground Railroad
The Thirteenth Amendment passed 150 years ago, abolishing slavery. Today, little of the Underground Railroad still remains. A painter hits the road to discover what’s intact.
The Absolute Minimum
Highlights from a reading of 200-plus letters to the editor, from newspapers in all 50 states, to determine what Crazy America thinks about raising—or lowering—the minimum wage.
Let It Stop
Disney’s “Frozen” juggernaut has been criticized for “sexy walking.” But the roots of what’s wrong lie in Midwestern pageants, not hip-hop videos.
A Country’s Width
Years go by easier when there are 2,000 miles separating a father and son. Then an American flag turns up in your lap.
Glad I’m Not You
The instinct to applaud boot-strapping and the comeback kid is as American as apple pie. So why does schadenfreude make us feel so good?
Main Street, USA
Sinclair Lewis despised his hometown in Minnesota. It disliked him, too, especially after being lampooned in a bestselling novel that mocked the citizens for their small-town ways. These days, though, he's all they've got.
Big Water
The California Dream is made possible by old water and big water. Unfortunately, the former doesn’t care about us, and the latter’s running dry. A native reports from the wine country, where fires loom.