Cover Story
Paying to Be Locked Up
Private prison companies treat immigrant detainees like convicted criminals—and reap huge profits from the people they hold
by Keramet Reiter
Articles
Black Lives and the Boston Massacre
John Adams’s famous defense of the British may not be, as we’ve always understood it, the ultimate expression of principle and the rule of law
by Farah Peterson
No Harmony in the Heartland
Two small towns in northeast Iowa are caught up in the national struggle over immigration
by Tom Zoellner
The Sleeper
In a rural hospital, a patient passes the night without knowing how lucky he is to have avoided death
by Frank Huyler
Whiskey Foxtrot One-One
My father was training to fight a war, but his real battle was with himself
by Jon Zobenica
Launching the Greatest Fleet
How American war surplus helped build the world’s most successful merchant marine
by John Psaropoulos
This Side of Paradise
Aging has its rewards until it doesn’t. I am ready to contemplate the end but not, yet, to give in to it
by Paula Marantz Cohen
Departments
Editor's Note
Letter From …
Tuning Up
American Places
Works in Progress
Fiction
Commonplace Book
Book Essay
A Pleasure to Read You
Shouldn’t literature enchant, surprise, and teach us? And to make this happen, shouldn’t we be the most expert readers we can be?
