MAY 2018

A new book with an imperfect narrator demonstrates the benefits—and limits—of taking right-wing extremists at their word.

• By Peter C. Baker

No other president in the last 50 years has attempted to shrink the national monuments designated by his predecessors.

• By Morgan Baskin

Australian plant ecologist Brenton Ladd wants to reengineer the notoriously nutrient-poor soils in the Amazon, and, in the process, save the world's trees. But first, he has to convince Peruvian farmers and non-profits—and occasionally, his own research team—that he's not just another gringo with a strange idea.

• By Kate Wheeling

With her pioneering courses, Annie Delgado is filling in the gaps left by more traditional curricula.

• By Sarah Fuss Kessler

Touching asbestos doesn't scare Pierrette Théroux, founder of the Asbestos Historical Society. As a child, she woke to dustings of asbestos, fallen overnight like snow.

• By Crystal Chan

As scientists sort out the best way to capture and measure the harmful microfibers that now litter most of the world's freshwater, we have no choice but to keep drinking.

• By Morgan Baskin

Kanchanaburi, Thailand: Two tigers cool off at Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua Yannasampanno, a Buddhist temple that once doubled as a wildlife refuge. Thai authorities later removed the tigers after allegations of wildlife trafficking.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

Talk shows, live music, and romantic advice: how a quirky television station helps us understand cultural diasporas.

• By Jeremy Lybarger

Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan: In 2015, after Taliban skirmishes in the town of Sangin, Kharim Ahmad, an Afghan civilian, receives treatment from shrapnel wounds and other injuries at an emergency hospital.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

The agency has left immigrants and minorities to fend for themselves at toxic waste sites across the country.

• By Kevin Stark & Winifred Bird

La agencia ha dejado a los inmigrantes y las minorías a valerse por sí mismos en los sitios de desechos tóxicos en todo el país.

• By Kevin Stark & Winifred Bird

Behind the nationwide program that empowered health authorities to surveil women, quarantine them in miserable conditions, and force them to undergo painful and ineffective treatments.

• By Peter C. Baker

Recovery high schools have been shown to have positive effects on students who struggle with addiction. So why aren't there more of them?

• By Britni de la Cretaz

We spoke to Amy Ziering about what she recommends reading, watching, and listening to.

• By Katie Kilkenny

With help from readers who wrote to him about their workplace experiences, anthropologist David Graeber develops a taxonomy of bullshit jobs.

• By Peter C. Baker

The night before the election results were announced, opposition leader Raila Odinga was in the lead. But when Kenyans woke up the next morning, the election had unexpectedly flipped in favor of incumbent president Mwai Kibaki.

• By Elettra Pauletto

Rigorous study of the Fisher Temperament Inventory is still in its infancy—much like our understanding of the relationship between neurobiology and personality to begin with.

• By Elena Gooray

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.

• By Kristina Kutateli
• Member Exclusive

Even under the hardline policies of President Donald Trump—which resulted in a 25 percent increase in deportation arrests from 2016 to 2017—ICE officers largely avoid churches, mosques, and synagogues.

• By Krista Langlois

In SupremacyLand, visitors are forced to examine how they respond to overt expressions of racial bigotry.

• By Suzanne Cope

Underprivileged kids growing up in congested cities must overcome many handicaps; this study suggests one of them is the very air they breathe.

• By Tom Jacobs

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.

• By Kristina Kutateli
• Member Exclusive

Pyarpur, India: In Jharkhand, one of the poorest states in India, gangs recruit young boys for work as robbers across the country.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

Updates to stories from the Pacific Standard archive.

• By Pacific Standard Staff
• Member Exclusive