The Brilliant Way FDR Got America Back to Work—While Beautifying the Country and Protecting Our Environment

The New Deal’s Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration got us back on track. By Rain Noe.
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How a Scientist Mapped the Entire Peruvian Amazon by Plane

Next stop: space.
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Tasmanian Tree Projects: an intimate portrait from an impossible perspective

The Tree Projects team spent 67 days documenting one eucalyptus regnans in the Styx valley of Tasmania. Using a combination of tree-climbing and elaborate arboreal rigging techniques, they produced an intimate portrait from an impossible perspective of one of the world’s largest individual flowering trees, which goes by several common names. These photos document the process that resulted in an extraordinary ultra high-definition photograph.
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The Irish novel that seduced the USSR

The Gadfly, an English-language book barely known in the West became a sensation behind the Iron Curtain, writes Benjamin Ramm.
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Poland’s Pitch to Brexit Bankers: You Might as Well Move Somewhere Cheap

Wroclaw, Poland, is one of a clutch of cities in the Eastern European country wooing big banks’ business as the U.K. prepares to leave the European Union.
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How Mr. Coffee Made Coffee Manly

Mr. Coffee, the first electric-drip coffee machine for home use, debuted in 1972, forever changing the way Americans made coffee. By Erin Blakemore.
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The Unsolved Mystery Behind the Act of Terror That Brought Putin to Power

Ignoring the fact that Vladimir Putin came to power through an act of terror is highly dangerous in itself.
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The Secret History of the First Cat in Space

On October 18th, 1963, the Centre national d’études in France was set to send a small cat named Félix into space. After lagging behind its Soviet and American competitors, France was eager to stake its claim in the space race—with cats, for some reason. But on launch day, the mischievous little beast went missing—and an accidental heroine stepped in to take his place. Her name was Félicette.
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Report: Suppression Of Palestine Advocacy Intensified Starkly In 2016

Palestine Legal recorded an increase in false accusations of anti-Semitism and terrorism in 2016. By Kevin Gosztola.
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My life as a cleaner in London

As a cleaner, Michele Kirsch brings insights from her writing career to her current job – and reveals some home truths.
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In Tbilisi

”It’s forbidden to be sad in Georgia.” By Victoria Lomasko.
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The Karen road to Nhill

Famous for 1997 movie The Road to Nhill, the town of that name is now home to 200 Karen refugees from Myanmar. Far from dividing locals, the huge influx of newcomers – many of whom arrived traumatised, unfamiliar with western society – has brought new life to the community. Is this a model for the rest of Australia? By Margaret Simons.
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Lessons From Putin’s Russia for Living in Trump’s America

Once you lose faith in one institution, you start to lose faith in them all. By Michael Idov.
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Murderous Manila

On the Night Shift. By James Fenton.
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How to Murder Your Life

I was a slutty and self-loathing downtown party girl fellatrix rushing to ruin. By Cat Marnell.
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Storybook Landscape Photos Celebrate the Enchanting Beauty of Iceland

The Follow Me Away project captures stunning images of breathtaking places. For the latest installment, the model/photographer duo traveled to Iceland.
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The Baffling Master Plan of the French Truck Terrorist

Last July, France witnessed a new kind of mass murder when a man steered a cargo truck into a crowd and killed 86 people in the beach resort of Nice. The French government said the killer was a jihadist, but the truth is a lot stranger. By Scott Sayare.
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How Culture Became a Powerful Political Weapon

Nato Thompson’s new book explores the history of how music, TV, games, and advertising have been used to influence consumers.
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Refugee brides: what should Germany do about its child marriage problem?

Germany is on the frontline of controversial debate that has put European governments in a quandary – whether to recognise child marriage. By Chris Harris.
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Trump's 1st Week Reshapes U.S. Relationship with Canada

In Donald Trump's first week as president he's already signed a dozen or so executive orders and memorandums that will fundamentally change relations with his nearest neighbours for years to come.
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Enter the Pussyhat

On the Women’s March, Disrupt J20, and #IWillGoOut.
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Invasive Fern In Florida Threatens To Take Down More Than Just Trees

The tenacious Old World climbing fern — native to Africa, Asia and Australia — is toppling trees as it swamps the state. It also threatens to derail a national wildlife refuge.
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Student forced to pee in bucket wins $1.25M in lawsuit

A school district was order to pay $1.25 million to student who was forced to urinate in a bucket after she was denied a bathroom break.
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The President Who Wasn’t There: Barack Obama’s Legacy of Impotence

Barack Obama was in Brasilia on March 19, 2011, when he announced with limited fanfare the latest regime change war of his presidency. The bombing of Libya had begun… By Jeffrey St. Clair.
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Japanese Joinery: Captivating gifs reveal ancient secrets of wood assembly.

Before screws, nails, glue and other fasteners, joinery was a matter of complex interlocking forms that shaped not only the structure but also the aesthetic of what was built. For generations, Japa…
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Brief exposure to Pope Francis heightens moral beliefs about climate change

In his recent encyclical letter Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, Pope Francis issued a moral appeal to the global community for swift action on climate change. However, social science research suggests a complex relationship between religious concepts and environmental attitudes, raising the question of what influence the pope’s position may have on public opinion regarding this polarizing issue.
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Empire Files: Post-Soviet Russia, Made in the U.S.A.

Abby Martin interviews Mark Ames, an American journalist who spent a decade reporting from Yeltsin’ and Putin’s Russia and witnessed the country’s transformation from an American “colony” to it’s “number one threat.”
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Visualizing the U.S.-Mexico Border

What does the southern border of the United States look like? For all the talk of “securing the border” and “building a wall,” there is surprisingly little visual material that conveys just how vast this stretch of space is.
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The Utter Stupidity of the New Cold War

It seems so strange, twenty-seven years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, to be living through a new Cold War with (as it happens, capitalist) Russia… By Gary Leupp.
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Edward Snowden talks about FBI’s COINTELPRO, CIA’s MK-ULTRA and Black Lives Matter

In this interview with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden we talk about the history of intelligence agencies and some notable whistleblowers. From acTVism Munich 2017.
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Can the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Be Found in Cuba?

A birder, ornithologist, writer, and photographer set off on an extreme adventure through the muck and memories of eastern Cuba. By Mac McClelland.
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The empire strikes back

How the Brexit vote has reopened deep wounds of empire and belonging, and challenged the future of the United Kingdom. By Michael Kenny and Nick Pearce.
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The Four-Letter Code to Selling Just About Anything

What makes things cool? By Derek Thompson.
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Banned From Boats in Myanmar, Rohingya Fish on Rafts of Junk

The ban is one small part of a sweeping and violent counter-insurgency campaign in Rakhine state, home to the long-persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority, where authorities have been accused of widespread abuses
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For Widows, Life After Loss

In some cultures, the death of a husband has meant exile, vulnerability, and abuse. But bereaved women are beginning to fight back.  
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Chinese New Year

This is the Year of the Rooster
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‘The Evenings,’ a Dutch Classic, Arrives in English. It Only Took 70 Years

A translation of a novel by Gerard Reve that centers on a young clerk has invited recent comparisons to books like “The Catcher in the Rye.” By Nina Siegal.
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Our School

In the changing lands above the Arctic Circle, traditional and modern ways of knowing are integrated in the classroom. By Lauren Markham.
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The True Story of the Fugitive Drug Smuggler Who Became an Environmental Hero

When Raymond Stansel was busted in 1974, he was one of Florida’s biggest pot smugglers. Facing trial and years in prison, he jumped bail, changed his name, and holed up in a remote Australian outpost. Even more remarkable than that? His second life as an environmental hero. By Rich Schapiro.
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Peter’s Choice

I asked my student why he voted for Trump. The answer was thoughtful, smart, and terrifying. By Rick Perlstein.
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Why the Election of 9 Black Female Judges in Alabama Matters

For a state that still has segregationist language in its constitution, it was a surprise. By Lindsay Peoples.
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True leadership

:-P
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Mesmerizing snapshots of 20th century China, saved from oblivion

The practice of everyday life in the time of permanent revolution
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Shooting Daghestan

Russia's restive Daghestan region is more often associated with insurgency than great photography, but one young local is working to change perceptions of his mountainous homeland.
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How the Fake News Crisis of 1896 Explains Trump

William Jennings Bryan, the Trump-like presidential hopeful, warned of an “epidemic of fake news.” By Adrienne LaFrance.
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What Havana’s growing WiFi revolution looks like

After years of disconnection, Cuba's government has introduced WiFi hotspots across the country, providing outdoor hubs that offer a portal to other worlds.
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霓虹的製作 The Making of Neon Signs (2014)

Cpak Studio
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Kayashima: The Japanese Train Station Built Around a 700 Year Old Tree

In the Northeast suburbs of central Osaka stands a curious train station unlike any other. Kayashima Station features a rectangular hole cut into the roof of the elevated platform and, from inside, a giant tree pokes its head out like a stalk of broccoli. It’s almost like a railway version of Laputa.
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Your Guide to Dutch Elections, a Bellwether to European Populism

In normal times, nobody outside of the Netherlands takes much interest in a Dutch election. Now, a ballot on March 15 – just as the populist surge sweeps Europe and the U.S. – has raised the prospect that the Netherlands will be the next domino to fall. By Eddie Buckle.
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Meet Wes Lang: Kanye Collaborator, Taste God, and World’s Most Badass Artist

Wes Lang is famous for Kanye’s Yeezus graphics. But the L.A. painter’s fast cars, big rings, and awe-inspiring spaces will make you lust after much more than just concert tees. BY Zach Baron. (Aug. 22, 2016)
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