All posts tagged: American

Atlantic’s July Issue: How to Tell the American Story

Atlantic’s July Issue: How to Tell the American Story

Published by Daniella Wilson

For its July issue, on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the United States, The Atlantic considers how to tell the American story, with contributions from its staff writers and editors, including Yoni Appelbaum, Ian Bogost, Sally Jenkins, Idrees Kahloon, Adrienne LaFrance, Helen Lewis, Jake Lundberg, Clint Smith, and Caity Weaver. In an editor’s note for the issue, editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg writes: “You will see in this issue (and, I hope, in everything we do) that our journalists are engaged in worthwhile struggles with the meaning, promise, achievements, and shortcomings of our singular nation … The ambition of The Atlantic’s founders was that this magazine would be the preeminent home for arguments about the American idea, and that we would endeavor to tell the truth about the grandness of America as well as its imperfections. That ambition animates this issue—and all of our journalism.” On the cover, The Atlantic is publishing Julia Ward Howe’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which was written for The Atlantic and first ran in the February 1862 …

The Two Kinds of American Patriotism

The Two Kinds of American Patriotism

Published by Daniella Wilson

Americans have never settled the question of how best to love this country. Does patriotism mean prioritizing unconditional loyalty—the Pledge of Allegiance I remember repeating every morning of elementary school, right hand over my heart—or does it first demand skepticism and vigilance, a setting and resetting of expectations, a love that needs to be earned? This tension goes back to the very beginning, to the ratification of the Constitution, when Federalists and anti-Federalists debated whether there was enough glue to hold this new political entity together. To argue for a union was to willfully overlook the irreconcilable divisions between the states—slavery being the most obvious gulf. Our most fondly remembered Founding Fathers took a leap of faith. Whatever doubts they had, they threw an idealistic blanket over the whole enterprise, covering the mess by proclaiming that providence had decreed that this union had to exist, and therefore it should. The anti-Federalists were not so sure. They saw a clash that could lead to war, as it eventually did. But Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and others …

How to Tell the American Story

How to Tell the American Story

Published by Daniella Wilson

On a July afternoon in 2019, I found myself in a large, sun-dappled room within one of America’s great estates. An assemblage of distinguished jurists, Ivy League professors, nonprofit leaders, journalists, and theologians sat around me in a half circle. I was trying to be on my best behavior, but I blurted out a word dirty enough to make them blanch. In my defense, I thought it was what I had been summoned there to do. An independent commission had spent the previous year contemplating the dismal state of American democracy. In dozens of focus groups that it had convened around the country, participants from across the political spectrum had been quick to identify sources of division—but requests to name the things that united them as Americans were generally met with nervous laughter. The commissioners themselves were convinced that the country needed a shared narrative, but were at odds with one another as to what it should be. And so they called in a handful of outsiders, myself among them, to help inject some fresh …

All the Ways Europe Is Ditching American Technology

All the Ways Europe Is Ditching American Technology

Published by skeptic

Europe is done with American Big Tech. Well, sort of. Since the start of President Donald Trump’s chaotic second administration last year, concerned governments and companies across the continent have accelerated plans to end their near-total reliance on technology from US firms. Alongside political declarations, home-grown European tech development, and millions in additional funding, a WIRED analysis has documented dozens of public instances of companies, governments, NGOs, and education establishments stepping away from US technology companies in favor of open source or local alternatives. It is likely the tip of the iceberg. “The aggressive policies by the Trump administration, attacking international law, as well as the EU and democratic principles, has led to several wake-up calls,” says Marietje Schaake, a non-resident fellow at Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center and a former member of the European Parliament. The moves are widespread—and growing. Last week, the European Commission launched its official long-term plans to rely less on US technology. The European Parliament has switched the default search engine on its devices from Google to the French alternative …

Bess Wohl Is 2nd American Woman to Win

Bess Wohl Is 2nd American Woman to Win

Published by Daniella Wilson

Liberation won the 2026 Tony Award for best play, making playwright Bess Wohl only the second American woman to win in the category and the first in close to 40 years. The play, about a feminist group meeting in Ohio in the 1970s, won the Pulitzer Prize for drama last month. The play follows a narrator describing her mother’s creation of the group and inserting herself into the imagined group setting, amid infighting, pushes for progress and a radical reimagining of womanhood, as well as a reckoning of where that stands now.  Wohl has said the plot was partly inspired by her mother, Lisa Cronin Wohl, who worked for Gloria Steinem’s Ms. Magazine. “I really need first to thank my mom, who taught me to use my imagination. I need to thank my daughters, who love to remind me that I couldn’t have done it without them and their right,” Wohl said onstage. With the win, Wohl is also the first woman to win a Tony Award for best play since 2009, when Yasmina Reza …

Authenticity is what American voters want | US Midterm Elections 2026

Authenticity is what American voters want | US Midterm Elections 2026

Published by Sam Flores

At first glance, Graham Platner and Adam Hamawy share little in common. Platner, an oyster farmer and a United States Marine Corps veteran, carries his burly, tattooed frame with a gruff and outspoken attitude. It is easier to imagine him as a lumberjack swinging an axe in the woods of his native Maine than as a politician glad-handing for votes. On the other hand, Hamawy, a New Jersey doctor, is soft-spoken, bookish, and modest. Both are Democrats who won their primaries and will be running for election this fall. Despite their differences in appearance, they share one key qualification that reflects what American voters seem to be looking for this year more than any other: authenticity. In an era of rambunctious politics on the right, the mainstream Democratic Party has struggled to offer its voters a compelling alternative. Joe Biden won the US presidential elections in 2020 by offering the comfort of a “safe hand on the tiller”. But his vice president, Kamala Harris, even before being promoted to the Democratic nominee for the 2024 …

American Democracy Wasn’t Designed for This

American Democracy Wasn’t Designed for This

Published by Sam Flores

In 1787, as the Founders gathered in Philadelphia to draft the Constitution, Alexander Hamilton wrote in “Federalist No. 1” that there was more at stake than the future of a single country. The American experiment would “decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force.” The Founders were hopeful, in part because the information environment of the late 18th century was favorable to “reflection and choice.” A flourishing newspaper industry kept Americans informed and fostered vigorous debate. But the number of publications was limited—about 100 total in the 13 states—and the authority of editors and writers meant that a free press didn’t turn into a free-for-all. And at a time when nothing traveled faster than a horse or ship, the sheer size of the new country meant that news spread slowly, an obstacle to impulsive public decisions. Given time for deliberation, passions would cool, and elected representatives …

Police Investigate Suspected Arson at Boston Museum of African American History

Police Investigate Suspected Arson at Boston Museum of African American History

Published by Jenni Sidey

Police and federal authorities are investigating a suspected act of arson at the Museum of African American History in Boston after a package containing materials for an upcoming Juneteenth celebration was set on fire outside the institution this week. According to Boston police, the incident occurred around 8 a.m. on Wednesday at the museum’s African Meeting House site on Beacon Hill. Security footage reportedly shows a man opening a package, scattering some of its contents, and setting several items on fire in an alley behind the historic building. Related Articles The package contained materials intended for the museum’s upcoming Juneteenth celebration, according to museum president and CEO Noelle Trent. Boston police said they are investigating the incident alongside the National Park Service and are working with civil rights groups to identify any possible bias motive. Authorities have not classified the incident as a hate crime, though Trent said the circumstances were troubling given the location and the nature of the materials that were targeted. “For us, this feels like a hate crime … the proximity …

The Humanoid Robot of the Future Is a 6-Foot-Tall Beefcake With a Chinese Body and an American Brain

The Humanoid Robot of the Future Is a 6-Foot-Tall Beefcake With a Chinese Body and an American Brain

Published by skeptic

The humanoid robot of the future is a hulking specimen with a body that’s made in China and a brain that runs on American silicon. This week, Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, announced a blueprint for the bot, which combines a few different things: a 6-foot, 150-pound robot called H2 Plus from Unitree, a high-flying Chinese robotics startup; a Thor T5000 Nvidia chip; an advanced humanoid hand; and a new suite of software, which makes it easy to program and train the machine. Taken together, they’ll make it easier for researchers, including US academic labs, to put together cutting-edge humanoids and train them with their own AI algorithms. The Thor chip can run powerful AI models that allow the bot to make sense of its environment and control its movements, while the body features Unitree’s motors, actuators, and sensors. The dextrous, humanlike hand from Singaporean company Sharpa can do everything from card tricks to peeling an apple. (Dexterity remains a key unsolved problem in robotics.) Spencer Huang, Nvidia’s director of product for robotics, told …