How the Owens Bottle Company Helped End American Child Labor
An excerpt from Vince Beiser's new book about how sand transformed civilization.
Books
Science Fiction and Fantasy Readers Make Good Romantic Partners
New research suggests they have more mature ideas about how real-world relationships work.
Martha Nussbaum Wants Americans to Calm Down
A new book by one of America's foremost philosophers recommends talk therapy to a troubled nation that probably needs something stronger.
'Goodbye, Sweet Girl' Explores the Complex Realities of Domestic Abuse
Kelly Sundberg's new book never glosses over the more affectionate moments with her abuser. In the process, she paints a far more insidious picture of their relationship: one that shows how an abuser can slowly creep into his victim's life.
'My Year of Rest and Relaxation' Is a Narcoleptic Triumph
Ottessa Moshfegh's unsettling, darkly funny new novel asks readers to wake up.
PS Picks: 'The Ambition Decisions'
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 Fight Inequality, According to Thomas Piketty
Two new books on economic history and theory suggest the limits of the Austrian school—and the vital importance of progressive taxation.
Ben Goldfarb Explains How Beavers Can Save Humanity
The author discusses his new book about the original architect of the North American landscape: the beaver.
Why Are More Americans Reading Poetry Right Now?
The NEA reports an increased interest in poetry—but when we focus too much on numbers, we diminish the experience that makes poetry so vital.
Love Poems to a Troubled America
In his latest collection, the poet Terrance Hayes finds common ground with the many threats to our democracy.
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.
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.