Elizabeth Rush's 'Rising' Is a Clarion Call on Climate
In her reported tour through American communities being threatened by rising seas, Rush reminds us of the human faces of the crisis.
Books
A Conversation With Porochista Khakpour
The novelist discusses her new memoir about living with Lyme, being a refugee, and the search for home.
Bracing for the Meltwater Pulse in Miami
How rising seas are already dismantling our ideas of home.
A Conversation With Author Nicola Griffith
Griffith's new novel is a thriller that also helps dismantle the idea that disability is necessarily tragic.
'Texas Is Where Everything Comes to an End': Author Lawrence Wright on Texas' Unique Past—and Its Precarious Future
A conversation with the Pulitzer Prize winner on how the Lone Star State's unique culture came to develop in the first place, and how it's evolved alongside the state's economy.
How to Protect Rare Books and Manuscripts From Climate Change
Almost all American archives are at risk from disasters or changing temperatures. Community history will probably be the first to go.
The Rust Belt Isn't a Riddle; It's a Home
A new essay collection showcases Rust Belt writers on topics like desegregation, clean water, racism, classism, and what it's like to be misunderstood by the coasts.
How Do We Take Down Rape Culture? Telling Stories Is Just the Beginning.
Considering a new anthology of stories about rape culture—and two other anthologies about how to end it.
Dispatches: 'Pacific Standard' at the L.A. Times Festival of Books
News and notes from Pacific Standard staff and contributors.
PS Picks: Michelle Dean's 'Sharp: The Women Who Made an Art of Having an Opinion'
PS Picks is a selection of the best things that the magazine's staff and contributors are reading, watching, or otherwise paying attention to in the worlds of art, politics, and culture.
How to Kill a Democracy
Three new books offer bracing lessons from European and Latin American history to help explain rising authoritarianism in the U.S. and beyond.
The Lede, Issue #13: The Problem With Sensitivity Readers, Failure at the EPA, the State of Unions in America, and More
An exclusive newsletter that gives premium members greater access to Pacific Standard stories, staff, and contributors in their inbox every Sunday morning
Why David Brooks Should Stop Using the Word 'Tribe'
Brooks depends on a lazy and ignorant story about tribalism to bolster a specific myth about American exceptionalism.
What 'Fabulous' Means to the Queer Community
A new book by the culture critic madison moore argues that an aesthetic of "fabulousness" allows queer people to reclaim visibility through flamboyance.
How to Write Great Sci-Fi About Disability Law
John Scalzi's latest novel conjures a fantastical world where the plot revolves around the Americans With Disabilities Act—and it's gripping.
This Copyright Dispute Is at the Center of an Education Policy Controversy
A seemingly straightforward copyright infringement case in New York's Second Circuit Court has the potential to upend the state's education policy.
Daegan Miller's Debut Is One Radical Breath of Fresh Air
Through a series of essays, Miller reminds us what it's like to feel a sense of awe when confronted with nature's beauty.
Can Walden Pond Be Saved?
After Thoreau made the pond famous in 1854, an influx of tourists and fishermen have come to imperil the ecological outlook of the area.
PS Picks: Leslie Jamison's Memoir of Addiction
PS Picks is a selection of the best things that the magazine's staff and contributors are reading, watching, or otherwise paying attention to in the worlds of art, politics, and culture.
What Makes a Book a Best Seller?
New research reports the most popular tomes tend to be thrillers, mysteries, and memoirs.
'Ask Me About My Uterus' and Women's Never-Ending Quest to Not Have Their Pain Ignored
Abby Norman's new book chronicles how her endometriosis diagnosis unfolded alongside the medical disbelief around her chronic, debilitating pain.
Amid #MeToo, Journalists Shouldn't Commodify Women's Pain
Reporters should call out non-apologies—and be wary of re-exploiting victims.
Poetry for Those Brutalized by Capitalism
Daniel Borzutzky's new collection confronts the perverse logics of fascism and the free market.
A Conversation With Dominika Baran
The Duke University linguistics professor talks about her new book, and the power of language in determining inclusion.