Without the now-obscure land investment affair, Georgia might have been a "super state."

In business and in technology, just because you can doesn't mean you should.

The states with golden stars on them are extra intriguing.

Yale professor Amy Chua on the identity of nations, why hardened tribes end up in civil wars, and why you can't just replace dictators with democracy.

Norway’s decision to push drug felons through treatment is a huge step forward.

Student loan debt is exploding in the U.S. That’s at least how New York Governor Andrew Cuomo characterized it while recently unveiling a set of measures to alleviate the burdens of debt in New York.

There are a lot of tough conversations that stand between where America is now and "liberty and justice for all," says Van Jones.

Why doesn't America win wars anymore? Because the objectives are so poorly defined. Maybe it's time to rethink foreign policy.

The U.S. has been steadily losing its religion for decades — but that trend might ramp up significantly in the years to come.

Considering that the United States remains the world's only superpower, that begs the question: How informed are Americans when it comes to their country's vast global power?

The #1 problem with America's mission to spread democracy? We don't know how to do it.

Why does America confuse fantasy for reality, in pop culture and in politics? Kurt Andersen can pinpoint the moment it happened.

Cornel West talks about everyday poets, being the best of the human species, hope, what wokeness really means, and revolution.

Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery, or a breach of intellectual property? That depends which continent you're on, says Gish Jen.

For the last two years the volume has risen on populist voices, culminating in a victory for President Trump. The day after his election, this is how "rude" New Yorkers treated one Muslim-American woman.

People in the East and West really do think differently, especially when it comes to self-identity. Depending where you live, it's either associative or distinctive thinking that shapes your sense of self.

While often compared to the Roman Empire, the United States is not likely to collapse in the same way.

A quote from a 1995 book by astronomer Carl Sagan describes a world many find disturbingly similar to ours.

The United States of America is as divided now as it has ever been. Why is this? One author suggests that it is because we have never been one united nation, but 11 differing ones. Founded for different reasons and striving towards conflicting goals, can they ever learn to get along again?

If hate is a virus, the U.S. has got it bad. Oliver Luckett presents a fascinating perspective on how the 2016 election divided America, how social media mimics biology, and how the U.S. can start to rebuild.

Journalist Jelani Cobb considers the impact of Obama’s presidency on race in America. Did he make good on the promise of change that got him elected?

Way before there was Cracked or Mad magazine, there was Puck, a weekly satirical publication that came out of St. Louis, Missouri in 1871. Here are some of the incredible full-color illustrations of that era's political issues.   

There's a lot missing from debates and policy surrounding poverty but the biggest deficit, according to Dr C. Nicole Mason, is in honesty. Impoverished people aren't poor because they're lazy, they're poor because social mobility is institutionally suppressed.

A list debunking commonly believed falsehoods, misconceptions and just bad ideas.