Essays

Prospect's favourite articles, 2016

Staff picks

December 22, 2016
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Yesterday, we published a list of our most-read pieces of the year. Today, Prospect’s staff bring you, in no particular order, our own favourites.

Sam Tanenhaus, Prospect’s US Writer-at-Large, spent 2016 covering the most extraordinary year in US politics, and we’ve opted for his most recent piece, written in the wake of Trump’s victory. Christopher de Bellaigue’s piece on France’s mishandling of the terror threat has, sadly, become all the more important in the wake of recent tragedies. Philip Collins’s all-encompassing piece on the books of Brexit is in there, as is Miranda France’s piece on Cervantes: the first European character to question his own motives, who died 400 years ago this year.

We hope you find these ten articles as excellent as we did, and that you continue to enjoy Prospect into 2017—and beyond.

Donald Trump’s America: Welcome to the void

Trump is a born campaigning demagogue. But will he be too lazy to rule?

By Sam Tanenhaus



The shock of free trade

Free trade has brought great benefits, but its advocates have failed to acknowledge how long the impact on local jobs and communities can last

By Martin Sandbu



Gender—good for nothing

Our preoccupation with gender identity is a cultural step backwards. For me, the self transcends sex

By Lionel Shriver



Blair could have been great

Tony Blair transformed Britain, but he cared more about the limelight than the Labour Party

By Ferdinand Mount



Bob Almighty

Who knew a career in music could last so long? Now approaching 75, Bob Dylan is still creating profound and moving work

By Edward Docx



Don Quixote and the invention of doubt

He was the first European character who questioned his own motives

By Miranda France



US presidential election: the roots of the rage

If you want to make sense of this insensible election year, lend a hillbilly your ear

By Diane Roberts



Crimes and punishment

What's the difference between atrocities committed in war and outright genocide?

By Joshua Rozenberg



Brexiteers have taken the country for a ride

Exit, pursued by a bus

By Philip Collins 

France’s clampdown on radical Muslims could be storing up trouble Radicalisation is still happening—but out of sight

By Christopher de Bellaigue