New York, NY (April 19, 2018) — The New Republic today published its May issue, featuring an in-depth cover story examining how the NRA exploits Second Amendment fears and racial tensions to sell guns. In “How the NRA Sells Guns in America Today,” author Elliot Woods takes a deep dive into the NRA’s tactics, explaining, “The astonishing boom in the gun market didn’t result from expanding the rolls of gun owners, but by convincing a small group of ‘super owners’ to deepen their arsenals.” Woods spent time at the NRA’s booth at the Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade show gathering intel for the piece that also touches on how today’s youth movement against guns has become a real problem for the NRA.
TNR’s May issue features an exclusive photo essay, produced in collaboration with the Yossi Milo Gallery in New York City. “The Postcolonial Moment,” features stunning photographs by Sanlé Sory shot in his studio in Burkina Faso during the 1970s and 1980s.
Additional information about the issue is included below.
[FEATURES]
In “What Difference Is Trump for Us?,” author Suzy Hansen examines how politics and culture in America look from Istanbul today. Hansen writes, “Almost all Turks have felt critical of the United States. Before I could understand how they felt about Trump,
I would need to understand how they felt about America.” She spends time with graduates from Robert College and explains, “Donald Trump’s inexperience and ignorance might not have shocked the Robert College graduates because they had been exposed to ignorance, nativism, and narcissism in the Ivy League.”
Mattathias Schwartz explores how a U.S. citizen captured on the battlefield with ISIS may finally force America to confront the legacy of 9/11 in “The Case of John Doe, American Jihadist.” He makes the case that the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), introduced shortly after 9/11, has become the legal justification on which the global war on terrorism depends and writes, “Trump is committed to a maximalist interpretation of the AUMF. ‘We have not used the real abilities that we have,’ he said. ‘We’ve been restrained.’”
[U.S. & THE WORLD]
In “There’s No App for Justice,” Noam Cohen looks at the Silicon Valley startups remaking legal practices and explains, “There are now at least 600 legal tech startups operating in the United States, many of them using AI to organize bankruptcy lings, search for new patent lings, and more generally help lawyers make the strongest possible case for their clients by showing connections between past court decisions, the law, and legal arguments.” He continues, “The decisions of law and justice are now turning on who has the biggest computer with the best algorithm.”
Author Adam Winkler touches on why big businesses are suddenly into liberal politics in “Corporate Political Conscience.” Winkler argues, “It is no longer enough to be socially responsible. Companies are now effectively embracing the idea of corporate political responsibility.”
“Undoing Climate Diplomacy,” by Emily Atkin argues that Trump’s new secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, will continue to lead to the erosion of American engagement in climate diplomacy. Atkin argues that the Trump administration’s failure to engage in foreign discussions surrounding global environmental policy has led China to become the de facto world leader on the issue, and Mike Pompeo will do little to alter that course.
“The Ultimate Cash Crop” explores how a pot crisis post Trump inauguration has restarted a conversation about public banking in America. Author David Dayen notes, “America is the richest country in the world; public banking advocates want to put that wealth to work on behalf of the people who created it.”
Lastly, Bryce Covert asks whether America can change the way it takes care of kids in “A New Deal for DayCare.” Covert examines early education in other countries and notes, “The United States spends less on child care and early childhood education than all other developed countries except Turkey, Latvia, and Croatia.”
[BOOKS & THE ARTS]
In “World Apart,” Patrick Iber examines how neoliberalism shapes the global economy and limits the power of democracies outlined in a new book by Quinn Slobodian, Globalists: The End of Empire and The Birth of Neoliberalism.
“A Map of Complications” explains how tensions between two generations of feminists animate Meg Wolitzer’s new novel, The Female Persuasion. Michelle Dean writes, “Both idealists and realists, Wolitzer’s characters would like to see a better world but find precious little room for principled choices amid the corporate structures that now govern more and more of life.”
Rachel Syme explores how SHOWTIME’s Billions reckons with the inflated egos and muddled ethics of Wall Street. In “Super Antiheroes,” Syme writes, “Billions is what would happen if Superman and Lex Luthor haggled over insider trading; if Batman and the Joker were really obsessed with Capitalism.”
In “The Brand Builder,” Kyle Chayka explores how Bjarke Ingels is designing the future, from architect to tastemaker. Sophie Pinkham reviews Dancing Bears: True Stories of People Nostalgic for Life Under Tyranny by Witold Szabłowski and The Long Hangover: Putin’s New Russia and The Ghosts of the Past by Shaun Walker in “No Direction Home,” delving into why post-Soviet countries have embraced populism and nostalgia.
Poems by Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon and Carl Phillips are featured this month. For Res Publica, Editor-in-Chief Win McCormack explains how a vital term in U.S. political life lost its significance—and could regain it today in “Are You Progressive?”
The entire May issue of The New Republic is available on newsstands and via digital subscription now.
For additional information, please contact Luke Carron at luke@high10media.com.
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