All From the Editors

Women have a lot to say – across business, politics, economics, education – you name it. But are their voices always heard?

There is a discovery that was made in the 20th century that is often overlooked. It is the legacy of nonviolence left by Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela.

Our Monitor Facebook book group is utterly vibrant – enthusiastic readers sharing book tips with one another, asking and answering book questions of all kinds. 

A wave of progressive movements, driven by decades of swelling unrest among women and minority groups, crested in 1968. It was a show of activism, both peaceful and violent, that the nation hasn’t seen since. At least, not until now.

When I traveled to Wausau, Wis., where the unemployment rate is a full percentage point below the national rate, I admit a few preconceptions crept in. What I didn’t expect to find was the power that comes when the biggest employers are locally owned.

From literary prizes to at-work book clubs to poetry slams, Clevelanders are uniquely leveraging the written and spoken word as a tool for progress. To some, it offers a voice. To others, it offers a mirror for introspection.

On July 4, which marks Independence Day in the United States, it is worth noting how America has helped reshape the idea of what patriotism is.

The Energy Foundation has given a grant to support the Monitor’s distinctive approach to climate change coverage.

In the borderlands of Nigeria, school attendance for girls is as much an act of war against Boko Haram as picking up a gun.

This summer, the Monitor is collaborating with more than 50 newspapers worldwide to promote solutions journalism – and a more hopeful view of the world. 

Lee began to understand the true nature of fatherhood when he began to understand the true nature of marriage, even though he wasn’t married himself.

Peng Jie came to Beijing for the same reason rural migrants have come to cities for generations – to find opportunity and a new life. And she did. The problem was that her community was seen as a blight on the gleaming vision for a modern Beijing.

Dredging a swath through the Varadero reef would increase trade, create jobs, and drive down prices of some goods for Colombians. How do you weigh the value of a potentially unique ecosystem against the promise of greater prosperity and meaningful employment?

Washington isn’t working, the thinking goes. But what if that sentiment is wrong? What if Washington is working pretty much as it is set up to do?

Must exploitation and conflict inevitably accompany exploration and expansion? Or can we learn the lessons of the past and reap the benefits of expansion without falling prey to its temptations?

By most metrics, Puerto Rico is not a success story. Yet Whitney’s story points to why it is too simplistic to look only at the negative – or only at the positive.

Staff writer Ryan Lenora Brown had gone to Cape Town, South Africa, to report on “Zero Day” – the day the city’s faucets were going to go dry because of drought. But there had been a development.

The recent upheaval in Western democracies has several causes, but perhaps the greatest is this: How are they coming to terms with their shifting role in the global economy?

Like other girls in her south Indian village, Kousalya Radakrishnan was told to stay at home, marry young, and have lots of babies. If she and a number of her teenage friends had listened, her village would have worse sanitation, fewer library books, and no streetlights.

How do you rein in hateful speech online without overbalancing into censorship? That is Germany’s challenge.