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