The Age of Connection

Electronic Intimacy

– Christine Rosen

Friendships that were once maintained with the rudimentary technology of pen and paper are now reinforced 24/7 with the stroke of a few keys. A longtime letter writer reflects on what has been gained — and lost.

The Torture of Solitary

– Stephanie Elizondo Griest

Solitary confinement, once regarded as a humane method of rehabilitation, unravels the mind. Yet today, more than 25,000 U.S. prisoners languish in isolated cells.

Japan Shrinks

– Nicholas Eberstadt

Many nations have aging populations, but none can quite match Japan. Its experience holds lessons for other countries as well as insights into the distinctiveness of Japanese society.

The Port Huron Statement: a Manifesto at 50

– Daniel Akst

The Port Huron Statement launched America's New Left in 1962. Today it seems naive and in some ways misguided — yet it raised questions that still agitate Americans today.

A Small World After All?

– Ethan Zuckerman

The Internet has changed many things, but not the insular habits of mind that keep the world from becoming truly connected.

Are technology and globalization undermining the middle class?

– The Wilson Quarterly

While Americans enjoy the use of cell phones and other technological innovations, the financial rewards of economic change have accrued “disproportionately to the most talented and well-educated members of society.”

Gerrymandering and prisons

– The Wilson Quarterly

Prisoners aren't allowed to vote. That doesn't stop them from being gerrymandered into safe districts.

For Some Think Tanks, Less Thinking and More Politics

– The Wilson Quarterly

Think tanks should be more than just part of DC's political echo chamber.

The U.S. Navy's Continual Reinvention

– The Wilson Quarterly

In its uniforms, ranks, and lexicon, the U.S. Navy retains the trappings of an earlier era. But dig deeper, and you'll find an organization that is constantly evolving.

Kagan: the U.S. won't fade like the British Empire

– The Wilson Quarterly

Yes, the challenges facing the country are daunting. But decline “is a choice,” Kagan asserts.

Why some retailers are bucking trends to pay their workers more

– The Wilson Quarterly

Investment in employees allows for excellent operational execution.

No Help for Displaced Workers

– The Wilson Quarterly

As globalization pulls jobs from American factories, the federal government has created programs to help displaced workers find positions with pay comparable to the ones lost. These initiatives make for reassuring political speeches, but do they actually achieve their objective?

Don't Blame Bonuses

– The Wilson Quarterly

Everyone has a theory about what caused the 2008 financial crisis. Bonuses, as objectionable as they my be, aren't the cause.

Is it utopian to imagine ‘unschooling’ for all?

– The Wilson Quarterly

The unschooling movement got its start amid the idealism of the 1960s and ’70s.

The Brief, Wondrous History of White Bread

– The Wilson Quarterly

Industrially produced white bread emerged from a confluence of political and social needs unique to the mid-20th century.

Big Medicine

– The Wilson Quarterly

The Federal Trade Commission has begun challenging hospital mergers that it views as a threat to competition.

A college degree levels the playing field. Grad school? Not so much.

– The Wilson Quarterly

By leveling the playing field, a college degree does something magical. A new study, however, concludes that the process runs in reverse once students reach graduate school.

Twitter is improving public health efforts

– The Wilson Quarterly

An unlikely set of tools including Twitter can help public health workers anticipate and respond to disease outbreaks.

The First Jews for Jesus

– The Wilson Quarterly

What distinguished Jewish Christians from their Jewish counterparts?

The future of the Bible in an e-reader world

– The Wilson Quarterly

What happens to Christianity if the book goes the way of the scroll?

Why is Western Classical Music so Popular in China?

– The Wilson Quarterly

The future of Western classical music may be in the hands of Asia’s rising musicians.

Is poetry really the domain of the depressed?

– The Wilson Quarterly

Readers are disappointed by poets who aren’t at least a little mad, which is to say visionary, melancholic, tormented, debauched, or somehow awry.

Left, Right, and Science

– Christopher Clausen

Liberals and conservatives alike wrap groupthink in the cloak of science whenever convenient. The results are seldom good.