Washington Monthly

06/11/2026

Don't read Nicholas Lemann's "Returning" as a Jewish book, Matthew Cooper writes, but as an American one: how, in a free country, we choose to wear our identities, and how the majority culture pushes back.

Nicholas Lemann’s family history illuminates what it means to be Jewish in America and explains how we choose our identities.

06/10/2026

On the 250th anniversary of American independence, the Roberts Court has found a way to commemorate it: by gutting the Voting Rights Act.

Jack Rakove, a historian of the founding era, on what's really being nullified.

Louisiana v. Callais and now Allen v. Milligan have laid bare the court’s fundamental misinterpretation of the Voting Rights Act.

06/10/2026

AI ads are cheap, viral, and easy to make, writes Politics Editor Bill Scher. They also just cost a Republican TV personality the LA mayor's race.

Spencer Pratt’s AI-fueled Los Angeles mayoral campaign shows cheap viral slop may get views, but not votes.

06/09/2026

Last week, more than a dozen House Republicans broke with President Donald Trump to join Democrats in approving legislation to provide aid to Ukraine and impose sanctions on Russia.

The vote was largely “symbolic,” Tamar Jacoby, a Kyiv-based Monthly contributor and director of the Progressive Policy Institute's New Ukraine Project, told Richard Chew on “Chew’s Views” from Heartland Signal and WCPT 820 - Chicago's Progressive Talk. To become law, the over $1 billion Ukraine Support Act would still have to pass the Senate, and Trump would need to sign it.

Further, “what Ukraine needs from America now has changed a lot,” Jacoby continues. “Of course they need money, it’s a country at war, but what they really need now are these missiles that [can do what] the [U.S.] Patriot systems do: that can shoot down Russian ballistic missiles. And [the United Stated doesn’t] have anymore, because we used them all in Iran.”

But importantly, Ukraine now has long-range drones and missiles of its own. “They can go all the way to Moscow and Saint Petersburg,” Jacoby said. “The amazing thing about Ukraine, I mean, not only are they resilient—as everybody knows, after watching them for four years—but they've basically built a defense military defense industry from scratch while they were at war.”

“Putin is under a lot of pressure: his economy is in trouble ... Even other Russian elites are saying, ‘Wait a minute. Maybe we can’t win this. Maybe we should cut our losses,’” Jacoby continued. “Here’s what Ukrainians say, this is sort of a joke: people say in three and a half years of World War II, the Russian army went from Moscow to Berlin. Like, that’s a long way. In the three and a half years of this war, Russia went from Donbas to Donbas.”

Read Jacoby’s Monthly piece “Could the Tide Be Turning in Ukraine?”: https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/06/01/could-the-tide-be-turning-in-ukraine-long-range-strikes/

Listen to the full interview on “Chew’s Views”: https://omny.fm/shows/chewsviews/wcpt-820-interview-tamar-jacoby-from-kiev

06/09/2026

After the Trump administration threatened medical journals, research on abortion, LGBTQ health, and racial health disparities dropped by roughly a quarter. Trump's chilling effect on science, by the numbers.

The Trump administration, having already made cuts to research on topics it disfavors, now wants scientists to submit to political control.

06/08/2026

The Washington Monthly is proud to announce the finalists for the 2026 Kukula Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Book Reviewing—the only journalism prize dedicated to highlighting and encouraging reviews of serious, public affairs-focused books. Now in its seventh year, the award honors the memory of Kukula Kapoor Glastris, the magazine’s longtime and beloved books editor.

“Nonfiction book reviewing plays a key role in transmitting hard-won reporting, research, and ideas on major issues of the day to policy makers and citizens who can’t possibly read more than a fraction of the important books published each year,” said Washington Monthly Editor-in-Chief Paul Glastris, Kukula’s husband of 31 years.

Selected from nearly 80 outstanding submissions published in 2025 across a range of print and digital media outlets, the finalists were honored for their clear and artful exposition, original and persuasive thesis, and ability to enlighten readers with new and valuable information.

Our finalists are:

Jacob Bacharach in The New Republic, for his review of “Ensh*ttification,” by Cory Doctorow

Rhoda Feng in The New Republic, for her review of “I Deliver Parcels in Beijing,” by Hu Anyan

Julia M. Klein in The Atlantic, for her review of “A Flower Traveled in My Blood,” by Haley Cohen Gilliland

Laura Miller in Slate, for her review of “Not My Type,” by E. Jean Carroll

Katy Waldman in The New Yorker, for her review of three books on modern-day feminism by Kate Mason, Laura Brown and Kristina O’Neill, and Steph Wagner

Diya Isha in The Swaddle, for her review of “Mother Mary Comes to Me,” by Arundhati Roy

Michael J. Kramer in Society for U.S. Intellectual History Book Reviews, for his review of two essay collections on social criticism and history by Adam Shatz and George Scialabba

Dan Piepenbring in Harper’s magazine, for his review of three new books with interwoven themes by Cory Doctorow, Ken Wilson, and Adrienne Mayor

Paul Schofield in Jacobin magazine, for his review of “The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism,” by Matt McManus

Ed Simon in The Los Angeles Review of Books, for his review of “Believe,” by Ross Douthat

The Washington Monthly congratulates these talented book reviewers and their publications for their commitment to the important craft of serious book reviewing.

Read more about the Kukula Award and Kukula herself at the link.
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/06/08/2026-kukula-award-finalists/

06/08/2026

In 1998, Democrats decided Bill Clinton was too indispensable to lose. Today, some progressives say the same about Graham Platner. The argument was wrong then—and it's wrong now, writes Bill Scher.

Some see Graham Platner as indispensable and echo rationalizations others once made for Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.

06/08/2026

In 1875, a jury took 10 minutes to declare Mary Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's widow, insane. A new book from Lois Romano revisits a stunning American injustice.

Mary Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln’s widow, has been lampooned as a narcissistic nut job, but her life of pain and loss was far more nuanced.

06/05/2026

A threat to pull customs officers from sanctuary cities could snarl World Cup travel. Why would they do it? Maybe because MAGA actually believes undocumented immigrants are stealing elections, writes David Atkins.

You can understand the Trump administration better if you really believe undocumented migrants commit mass voter fraud.

06/04/2026

Happening this Saturday!

Meet our Senior Editor Anne Kim at the Foggy Bottom Book Crawl, an opportunity to hear from acclaimed authors in Washington, D.C. Saturday, June 6 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Also speaking will be our past contributor Michael Isikoff.

Free tickets at the link below.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/foggy-bottom-book-crawl-tickets-1989040440501?fbclid=IwY2xjawSOhAZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe8NqYdrt_iFjwIxn6jF55WvoTj-fCWrWk5NV6Q26APlNes4h7Qvxb9R8DX48_aem_NGDPZn0eY8Dl9OlYraoTWQ

DC authors reading live in Foggy Bottom retail shops.