Rick Perlstein, an In These Times board member, is the author of Reaganland: America’s Right Turn, 1976-1980 (2020), The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan (2014), Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America (2008), a New York Times bestseller picked as one of the best nonfiction books of the year by over a dozen publications, and Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus, winner of the 2001 Los Angeles Times Book Award for history. Currently, he is working on a book to be subtitled How America Got This Way.

FeatureThe Right-Wing Issue
We’re in an Epidemic of Right-Wing Terror. Won’t Someone Tell the Press?
More than a decade of media malpractice enabled January 6. Has the media learned its lesson?
Rick Perlstein
Introducing the New Executive Director of In These Times
The magazine’s new leader is a political powerhouse.
Rick Perlstein
Viewpoint
Inflation Misinformation
Inflation myths only benefit the rich.
Rick Perlstein
The U.S. Turned Jewish Refugees Away During The Holocaust. Its Refugee Policy Hasn't Changed Much Since.
The United States says, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses"—unless they don't look or act like me.
Rick Perlstein
Viewpoint
The Political Magic of the Democrats’ Infrastructure Plan
Biden and the Democrats have put forward proposals that would finally invest in public services that help humans flourish.
Rick Perlstein
Feature
Biden’s First Priority: Undo the Damage Done by Trump
President Biden can make progressive appointments and executive actions—no matter who controls the Senate.
Rick Perlstein
Feature
Market Logic Is Literally Killing Us
Historically, during national emergencies like World War II, the U.S. government subordinated business interests to the public good. Why can't it do so in the Covid-19 crisis?
Rick Perlstein
Feature
The Elephants in the Resistance: Don’t Trust the Anti-Trump Republicans
Sen. Jeff Flake and his ilk aren’t the heroes we’re looking for.
Rick Perlstein
Feature
The Rush To Normalize Trump
The mainstream media is woefully unprepared to grapple with the hatred and trauma of this election.
Rick Perlstein
Viewpoint
The Truth About Donald Trump’s Populism
What Matt Taibbi's overlooking: All fascists achieve and cement power in remarkably similar ways.
Rick Perlstein
Viewpoint
From Moral Victories to Tangible Ones
Jesus "Chuy" Garcia’s defeat was crushing. But Chicago progressives won, at the very least, a moral victory. Or maybe much more.
Rick Perlstein
Feature
BREAKING: In Chicago, Reports of Voters Receiving Ballots Already Marked for Emanuel
After a Facebook post suggested voting irregularities blew up, similar reports are emerging.
Rick Perlstein
Feature
When Rahm Emanuel Said Executing a Developmentally Disabled Man Was “OK”
As a staffer for Bill Clinton, Emanuel allegedly told a colleague that if the polls said voters were in favor of killing a mentally incapacitated man, so was he.
Rick Perlstein
Feature
What Has Jesus “Chuy” Garcia Actually Accomplished in Office? A Lot, It Turns Out.
It's not just that Rahm Emanuel has devastated Chicago through privatization and corruption—Chuy Garcia has a strong record of smart progressive governance.
Rick Perlstein
Viewpoint
In Mayoral Runoff, Rahm Emanuel’s Corrupt Governance Has Finally Caught Up With Him
It's become increasingly clear to Chicagoans that Rahm Emanuel is out for himself and his rich friends, not for us.
Rick Perlstein
Feature
How To Sell Off a City
Welcome to Rahm Emanuel’s Chicago, the privatized metropolis of the future.
Rick Perlstein
Feature
The Powerlessness of Positive Thinking
The battles over American history and censorship in Colorado are part of the longstanding cult of optimism on the Right.
Rick Perlstein
Feature
From Watts to Ferguson
The riot is still 'the language of the unheard.'
Rick Perlstein
Culture
Who’s Afraid of Peter Boyle?
Rick Perlstein
Culture
Blumenthals First Draft of History
Princeton University Press has published a compilation of articles by Sidney Blumenthal called How Bush Rules: Chronicles of a Radical Regime
Rick Perlstein
Viewpoint
The Odd Couple: Nixon and Lieberman
Nixon and Lieberman both supported pro-war policies while claiming to be anti-war.
Rick Perlstein
A Socialist in the Age of Triangulation
Rick Perlstein