STORY IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE

#1601 Shadi Hamid
It’s easy to be skeptical of idealistic notions of American power with the history of the last 25 years is of misguided conflicts in the Middle East and a democratic backsliding at home. But through it all, Washington Post columnist Shadi Hamid takes readers through a compelling case for American power.

#1602 Michael McFaul
Are the advantages autocracies like Russia and China have over democracies like the United States insurmountable? But Ambassador Michael McFaul argues that it’s just the opposite—that it’s the very messiness of American democracy that is the source of our greatest strength.

#1603 Caitlin Dickerson
As a candidate in 2016 and 2024, Donald Trump promised to crack down on undocumented immigrants—and after one year in office, the president has moved fast. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Caitlin Dickerson says that the policies and their implementation come with a very high price—for the immigrants and even for U.S. officials.

#1604 Patsy Widakuswara
From World War II through the Cold War, and into this century, the Voice of America and its journalists demonstrated the strength and power of a free society and the weakness of America’s enemies. Now, Patsy Widakuswara—a seasoned veteran of VOA—finds herself at the heart of a legal battle over the future existence of the Voice of America.

#1605 Eddie Fishman
Anyone who pays even passing attention to world news has heard the term “sanctions” every time a foreign crisis threatens a larger conflict. But few understand the power of these weapons to wage economic warfare with devastating effect. Global energy policy researcher Edward Fishman explains that power with skill and insight.

#1606 Megha Majumdar
Literature’s power comes from its ability to see not just from the eyes of the hero, but the villain, too. Author Megha Majumdar brings us into that literary world with a tale of scarcity and desperation set in the not-too-distant future of her native Kolkata, India.

#1607 Pam Breaux and Todd Trebour
Democratic societies can choose to either let the arts remain the domain of elite society—or a shared expression of community accessible to all. Pam Breaux and Todd Trebour are champions of the arts, on a mission to make them accessible to the largest number of Americans.

#1608 Wil Haygood
The war in Vietnam was the first war in U.S. history fought by a fully-integrated military. But award-winning author and journalist Wil Haygood says that the challenge beyond the battlefield was that American society was not as fully integrated as the fighting force that served it—and that difference had impacts in Vietnam and at home.