Tuesday, February 17, 2026 |
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In late 2024, I read What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer. Over 1,000-plus pages, Cramer meticulously chronicled the 1988 presidential election through the lens of six candidates, including George H.W. Bush, Michael Dukakis, and Joe Biden. It's considered by many to be one of the best political books ever written, but Cramer did receive criticism for one person he left out: Jesse Jackson. Jackson became a huge, surprising part of that election cycle's story, and in the decades since, he became one of the most influential people in American politics. In 2016, Nieman Storyboard caught up with the researcher for What It Takes, Mark Zwonitzer—who briefly worked at Esquire—about why. "Richard… felt that Jackson didn't get over that hurdle of getting to the point where he was really thinking he was going to be president," Zwonitzer said. "Now, was that a bit of a cop-out? Possibly." If you asked Esquire political columnist Charles P. Pierce, he'd say "Definitely." Pierce penned a tribute to the politician and civil rights leader, who died on Tuesday, writing, "Sail on, Reverend. You were ... somebody." Read the column at the link below. – Chris Hatler, deputy editor |
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The politician and civil rights leader, who died on Tuesday at the age of 84, showed us how an outside candidate could challenge and change the political establishment. |
One day in Marshalltown, Iowa, as the eventual and poisonous 2016 Democratic presidential primary was just getting underway, I found myself hanging around Main Street on a dead-level Sunday afternoon. Suddenly, like the sun breaking through the thickening February clouds, I saw the long march of progressive politics within the Democratic Party, from when it was stuffed in a steamer trunk by Bill Clinton to its (partial) liberation under Barack Obama. (Little did I know that the whole fight would come back with a vengeance over the next several months.) The throughline, I saw, was the two presidential campaigns run by Jesse Jackson in 1984 and 1988. |
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| We're obsessive about travel over here. In our minds, if we're going to be a magazine that christens the Best Hotels of the Year, we're also going to tell you how we get there and do it in style. We're going to Italy to talk to Gucci and France to talk to Louis Vuitton, and you can bet we've tried just about every damn suitcase doing so. We'll tell you our carry-on essentials and make the case for that Rimowa suitcase. So finally, today, we're here to tell all of our favorite luggage brands that have withstood the test of time. If you want to know every luggage brand on the market, this ain't the place. If you want a small list of the best hard suitcases and soft-sided duffel bags, we can do that. We've whittled our selections down to nine brands, from long-standing houses to a few upstarts. If you're an aspiring frequent flyer or already someone who's keeping track of airline miles, these are the best luggage brands you can buy right now. |
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It's hard to believe the Oscar-winning actor has left us, even though he reached the wizened old age of 95. Robert Duvall seemed more permanent, somehow. He was a craggy part of the pop culture landscape, having been a crucial ingredient of so many legendary films over the past seven decades.
The roles that meant the most to him were some that he directed himself, like 1997's The Apostle, in which he played a fugitive preacher seeking to redeem himself for a stupid, lethal mistake. His next directorial effort, 2002's Assassination Tango, was essentially a way for him to use a thriller to put his skills as a dancer onscreen. The tango was one of his greatest passions.
It's also the entry point to one of the best stories I ever heard about him. |
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