-Journalist and author-
Timothy Noah
MAGAZINE, NEWSPAPER,
AND WEB ARCHIVE
Below is a selection of my writings for MSNBC.com,
The New Republic, Slate, and various other
publications, 1982-2014. For newer stuff, click
on "recent" tab, above.
If you're viewing this page on a desktop, laptop, or tablet,
the buttons at right will take you to my archive page for
the designated publication, or to an individual story.
9/5/14: "Bob McDonnell's 'Family Values' Fall Short" (MSNBC).
8/31/14: "Liberals: Please Stop Hating on Unions" (MSNBC).
8/27/14: "FedEx Loses On 'Independent Contractors'" (MSNBC).
8/26: "How American Is Burger King?" (MSNBC).
8/25/14: Interview with Ralph Nader (Washington Monthly; edited for
publication but includes sound file of the complete conversation).
8/22/14: "McDonnell Marriage Is Par For the Course In Politics"
(MSNBC).
8/20/14: "The Assassin's Lobby" (MSNBC).
8/17/14: "Migration Myths" (MSNBC).
8/14/14: "Why the Minimum Wage Issue Is Win-Win
For Obama" (MSNBC)
8/9/14: "Did Nixon Order the Watergate Break-In?" (MSNBC).
8/6/14: "Bursting Cliven Bundy's Bubble" (MSNBC).
7/30/14: "De-Fissuring the Workplace" (MSNBC).
7/28/14: "Could World War One Happen Today?" (MSNBC).
7/24/14: "No, Inequality Didn't Decline Under Obama" (MSNBC).
7/16/14: "America's Unrequited Corporate Love Affair" (MSNBC).
7/15/14: "How To Stop The U.S. Highway Trust Fund
From Flatlining" (MSNBC).
7/10/14: "With Religious Exemption, Conservatives Demand
Something For Nothing" (MSNBC)
7/5/14: "The Conservative Case Against Hobby Lobby" (MSNBC).
6/27/14: "How June 28, 1914 Created The World We Know" (MSNBC).
6/26/14: "Why The U.S. Shouldn't Export Oil" (MSNBC).
6/24/14: "Washington Is Making Inequality Worse" (MSNBC).
6/20/14: "'Political intelligence' Falters Post-Cantor" (MSNBC).
6/19/14: "The Ethics of Dog Crap Disposal" (Washington Monthly).
6/18/14: "Laura Ingraham and the GOP's Talk Radio Problem" (MSNBC).
6/11/14: "Dave Brat, Economist" (MSNBC).
6/10/14: "Shinseki's Resignation Wasn't Enough" (MSNBC).
6/5/14: "Could Ronald Reagan Survive A Tea Party Challenge?" (MSNBC).
6/3/14: "Reinventing Government Reconsidered" (MSNBC).
5/31/14: "The Truth Behind Shinseki's Resignation" (MSNBC).
5/30/14: "Ralph Nader, Conservative" (Washington Post).
5/28: "Is College the Answer to Income Inequality?" (MSNBC).
5/24/14: "VA Wait Times Not Significantly Worse Than Private Sector"
(MSNBC).
5/22/14: "Rise of the Stinkbug Filibuster" (MSNBC).
5/17/14: "What's So Great About 'Resilience'?" (MSNBC).
5/10/14: "Why Benghazigate Is A Fraud" (MSNBC).
5/8/14: "Pfizer's Ingratitude" (MSNBC).
5/2/14: "Did Inequality Rise Halt Under Clinton?" (MSNBC).
5/1/14: "Another Perspective On U.S. Economic Mobility" (Wall Street Journal)
5/1/14: "Piketty and the Trend of Political Dynasties" (Wall Street Journal).
4/29/14: "Why The Right Is Wrong On Mobility" (MSNBC).
4/29/4: "Multiple Spree Shootings In Gun-Mandatory Town" (Wall Street Journal).
4/25/14: "The Myth of Democratized Capital" (MSNBC).
4/22/14: "Hillary's Kerry Problem" (MSNBC).
4/16/14: "Are We A Nation of Cliven Bundys?" (MSNBC).
4/15/14: "Should We Tax Wealth More and Income Less?" (MSNBC).
4/13/14: Review of Matt Taibbi's The Divide (NYT Book Review)
4/10/14: "Bill O'Reilly vs. Stephen Colbert" (MSNBC).
4/4/14: "Paul Ryan Is No Jack Kemp" (MSNBC).
4/3/14: "Yes, the Stock Market Is A Stacked Deck" (MSNBC).
3/29/14: "Four Ways Chris Christie's 'Innocence' Hurts Him For 2016" (MSNBC).
3/24/14: "Chris Christie and the Perry Mason Fallacy" (MSNBC).
3/20/14: "John Boehner's Unemployment Catch-22" (MSNBC).
3/20/14: Review of Thomas Piketty's Capital (Pacific Standard).
3/17/14: "Inside the McDonalds Lawsuits" (MSNBC).
3/14/14: "Minimum Wage Workers Aren't Who You Think" (MSNBC).
3/5/14: "White House v. GOP on EITC" (MSNBC).
3/4/14: "Why Franchising Is Like Sharecropping" (Pacific Standard).
2/26/14: "What To Like In GOP Tax Plan" (MSNBC).
2/25/14: "Don't Weep For Tax Reform" (MSNBC).
2/22/14: "CBO's Minimum-Wage Math" (MSNBC).
2/19/14: "Grover Norquist, Union-Buster" (MSNBC).
2/10/14: "Defending Tim Armstrong" (MSNBC)
2/8/14: "What Do Republicans Want?" (MSNBC).
2/5/14: "Is America Weary of Inequality Debate?"
1/30/14: "Henry Waxman's Invaluable Legacy" (MSNBC).
1/29/14: "Inequality and Mobiity" (MSNBC).
1/25/14: "Break Up The Big Banks" (MSNBC).
1/24/14: "McDonnell's Medicine Show" (MSNBC).
1/15/14: "Christie Isn't Pretending Hard Enough To Wonder Who Ordered Bridgegate" (MSNBC).
1/9/14: "Chris Christie and the Menace of Bipartisanship" (MSNBC).
1/8/14: "The War On Poverty's Surprising Success" (MSBC).
1/3/14: "The Perils of Weak Productivity Growth" (MSNBC).
12/31/13: "'Icon,' the Absolute Worst Word of 2013" (MSNBC).
12/24/13: "Inequality Isn't Important? That's Just Wrong" (MSNBC).
12/21/13: "Is The Economy In Good Shape Or Not?" (MSNBC).
12/19/13: "Christmas Book Recommendations" (American Spectator).
12/17/13: "That Rich Brat Isn't The Only One With Affluenza" (MSNBC).
12/13/13: "Obama and the Democrats Have Bounced Back" (MSNBC).
12/12/13: "A Real Wall Street Fight At Last" (MSNBC).
12/7/13: "Jobs Report: Good Direction, Excruciatingly Slow Pace" (MSNBC).
12/5/13: "Why Income Inequality Is Worse Than You Think" (MSNBC).
11/30/13: "GOP Embassy Dilemma" (MSNBC)
11/22/13: "The Picturesque Presidency" (MSNBC).
11/22/13: "Harry Reid's Filibuster Ban Is A Good Start" (MSNBC).
11/21/13: "The Day Before JFK Was Assassinated" (MSNBC).
11/17/13: "GOP Can't Make Up Mind on Obamacare Delay" (MSNBC).
11/14/13: "Obama Burned By Culture of Secrecy" (MSNBC).
11/6/13: "The Elections Were About The Economy. Really" (MSNBC).
11/5/13: "Democrats Have All The Budget Leverage" (MSNBC).
11/2/13: "Fine, Obamacare Is 'Paternalistic'" (MSNBC).
10/30/13: "Presidential Omerta" (MSNBC).
10/26/13: "Don't Blame 'Washington' For Killing The Economy" (MSNBC).
10/23/13: "The Culture Wars Are Over. Liberals Won" (MSNBC).
10/19/13: "Failure Is Not The New Success" (MSNBC).
10/16/13: "Dump Boehner" (MSNBC).
10/16/13: "Stay Put, Young Man" (Washington Monthly).
10/10/13: "A Short History of Hating Congress" (MSNBC).
10/9/13: "Be Afraid You Aren't More Afraid" (MSNBC).
10/3/13: "Why This Shutdown Is Different" (MSNBC).
10/1/13: "An Obama Shutdown Scorecard" (MSNBC).
9/30/13: "Why the Medical Device Industry Hates Obamcare" (MSNBC).
9/27/13: "Dennis Hastert Didn't Follow The Hastert Rule" (MSNBC).
9/25/13: "Shackling Gov't Employees To Their Desks" (Remapping Debate).
9/19/13: "Psst. The GOP Doesn't Want To Kill Obamacare"
(MSNBC).
9/17/13: "Inequality Is Not Inevitable" (MSNBC).
9/10/13: "The Case For Trying Assad In International Court" (MSNBC).
9/4: "The Belligerent Indecision of Marco Rubio" (MSNBC).
Sept.-Oct.'13: "The Case of the (Still) Missing Jobs" (Pacific Standard).
9/1/13: "Who's The War-Weariest of Them All?" (MSNBC).
8/29/13: "Why Business Needs A Stronger Labor Movement" (MSNBC).
8/21/13: "Heritage Tries To Strangle Its Health Care Baby In The Crib" (MSNBC).
8/19/13: "Nothing Says 'Crooked' Like a Rolex Watch" (MSNBC).
8/13/13: "Why Republicans Can't Stand Rand Paul" (MSNBC)
8/11/13: "Remind Me Again Why We're Shutting Down Fannie and Freddie?" (MSNBC).
8/6/13: "What the Washington Post Sale Says About Power in Washington" (MSNBC).
8/3/13: "July Unemployment Numbers Disprove Right's Claim That Obamcare Is Killlng Jobs" (MSNBC).
7/31/13: "GOP Solution: Further Right?" (MSNBC).
7/26/13: "Janet Yellen Is the Intelligent Sexist's Choice For Fed Chairman" (MSNBC).
7/24/13: "Sex and Politics: It's The Redemption, Stupid" (MSNBC).
7/22/13: "Sequester Isn't Hurting You? Think Again" (MSNBC).
7/17/13: "Was Reid's Filibuster Deal Worth It?" (MSNBC).
7/15/13: "DOJ Didn't Need New Rules About Press Subpoenas; It Needed To Obey The Old Ones" (MSNBC).
7/12/13: "Who's Dependent on Food Stamps? Cheapskate Corporations" (MSNBC).
7/11/13: "Psst. Harry Reid Is Bluffing On The Filibuster" (MSNBC).
7/9/13: "Spitzer's Shareholder Activism: Does It Work?" (MSNBC).
7/8/13: Review of Jonathan Rowe's Our Common Wealth (Washington Monthly).
6/27/13: "Could Anything Be More Conservative Than Gay Marriage?" (MSNBC).
6/25/13: "Greg Mankiw's Defense of the One Pecent Flunks Spielberg Test" (MSNBC).
6/21/13: "McConnell: 'Shh! I'm Exercising Free Speech!'" (MSNBC).
6/20/13: "The Unpaid-Internship Racket" (MSNBC).
6/14/13: "Kamikaze Conservatism: Why GOP Can't Stop Talking About Rape" (MSNBC).
6/11/13: "Why Do We Fear Government Snooping But Not Corporate Snooping?" (MSNBC).
6/11/13: "Economic Issues Are Not Another Front in the Culture Wars" (Democracy).
5/19/13: "The 1 Percent Are Only Half The Problem" (NY Times)
4/23/13: "EID=WMD?" (Foreign Policy).
4/1/13: Final TRB column: "Everbody's A Welfare Queen" (The New Republic)
3/22/13: "De-Funding Political Science" (TNR)
3/19/13: "David Brooks And The Horse He Rode In On" (TNR)
3/16/13: TRB column: "Why Conservatives Want To Break Up The Big Banks, Too" (TNR).
3/14/13: "Bravo, Dick Cheney" (TNR)
3/12/13: "Facing Facts Doesn't Always Change Minds" (TNR).
3/8/13: TRB column: "Why Everyone Ignored Obama's Tuition Price Control Idea" (TNR).
3/7/13: "John Boehner's Kiss Of Death" (TNR).
3/4/13: "Why Republicans Need Democrats To Move Left" (TNR).
2/28/13: "The Six-Month Recovery" (TNR).
2/18/13: TRB column: "Why Gun-Control Liberals Should Stop Sucking Up To Hunters" (TNR).
2/1/13: TRB column: "The Creepy New 'Emotional Economy'" (TNR).
2/1/13: "My Ersatz Washington Post Newsroom" (TNR).
1/11/13: "Kushner Replies About Sources" (TNR).
1/10/13: "Tony Kushner's Real Source For Lincoln?" (TNR)
12/21/12: TRB column: "Why Is Ben Bernanke The Only Man In Washington Who Cares About Unemployment?" (TNR).
12/18/12: "Government Can Reduce Inequality, But Chooses Not To" (Reuters).
12/7/12: TRB column: "Soak The Almost-Rich" (TNR).
11/16/12: "An Obama Unilateraist Manifesto" (TNR).
11/16/12: TRB column: "Die Filibuster, Die" (TNR).
11/12/12: Transcript of interview for Alex Gibney documetary, Park Avenue (PBS).
10/19/12: TRB column: "Anyone But Erskine" (TNR).
10/18/12: "Revive Labor's Power" (NY Times).
10/5/12: TRB column: "Plutes Versus Plebes" (TNR).
10/5/12: "Why It's Impossible To Unionize Wal-Mart" (Great Divergence excerpt in the Globalist).
10/12: Labor chapter excerpt from The Great Divergence, Milken Institute Review.
9/14/12: TRB column: "The Romney Recession" (how Romney would screw up the recovery) (TNR).
8/25/12: TRB column: "Medicare And Brimstone" (Paul Ryan's faulty "tipping point" rationale for GOP hysteria) (TNR).
8/18/12: Ruth Laugeson of the New Zealand Listener interviews me about The Great Divergence.
8/2/12: TRB column: "Art of War" (the new undeniability of GOP suppression of the black vote) (TNR).
8/1/12: Alternet interview with Sarah Jaffe
7/13/12: TRB column: "States Of Confusion" (How the Obamacare ruling may hasten Medicaid federalzation) (TNR).
7/9/12: Brooklyn Rail interview with Annie Juergens Behr.
6/22/12: TRB column: "Bare Minimum" (Time to raise the minimum wage) (TNR).
6/12/12: "How Skewed Is America's Income Inequality? Take Our Quiz" (Christian Science Montor).
6/7/12: TRB column: "Nanny Dearest" (defending Bloomberg's soda rule) (TNR).
5/29/12: "Why Edward Conard Is Wrong About Income Inequality" (review of Unintended Consequences for Huffington Post).
5/18/12: TRB column, "Trite Makes Right" (conservatives have their cliches, too) (TNR).
5/3/12: "In Praise Of A Reasonable Progressivism" (Or, why it isn't "populist" for Obama to play up income inequality; contribution to TNR symposium on Obama and populism.)
5/3/12: TRB column: "What Crisis? Our Nonexistent Immigation Problem" (TNR).
4/26/12: "Bryce Harlow's Corporate Crusade" (NPR "Talk Of The Nation" excerpt from The Great Divergence.
5/12: Josh Harkinson interviews me about The Great Divergence in Mother Jones.
4/23-26/12: Slate "Book Club" dialog with Matt Yglesias about The Great Divergence.
5-6/12: "The Era Of Inequality" (Harvard Magazine advance excerpt from The Great Divergence).
4/19/12: TRB column: "The Best Tax Reform Would Be ... Nothing" (TNR).
3/29/12: TRB column: "Crankocracy In America" (TNR).
3/14/12: TRB column: "The Surprising Non-Embarrassment That Is Joe Biden" (TNR).
2/22/12: TRB column: "The Best Way To Fix The Deficit--And The Environment" (replace payroll tax with carbon tax) (TNR).
2/21/12: Reddit dialog on The Great Divergence and other stuff.
2/20/12: "The Two Americas" (Review of Charles Murray's Coming Apart for TNR's The Book).
2/16/12: "How The Stinking Rich Ate The Economy" (Atlantic Online advance excerpt from The Great Divergence).
2/8/12: TRB column: "Mitt Romney's Olympic Non-Miracle" (TNR).
2/812: "Why Everyone Overestimates American Equality of Opportunity" (TNR advance excerpt from The Great Divergence).
1/26/12: TRB column: "Can You Tell Romney And Obama Apart?" (TNR).
1/11/12: TRB column: "In Praise Of Primaries" (TNR).
1/6/12: "The Strange Death Of The Republican Moderate" (Revew of Geoffrey Kabaservice's Rule and Ruin and Theda Skocpol's and Vanessa Williamson's The Tea Party and The Remaking of Republican Conservatism in the NYT Book Review).
12/14/11: TRB column: "How Devastating Are Romney's Economic Attacks On Obama?" (TNR).
11/24/11: TRB column: "America Needs A Wingnut Third Party Candidate" (TNR).
11/16/11: “Hillarycare: The Sequel” (review of Paul Starr’s Remedy and Reaction in the NYT Book Review).
11/9/11: TRB column: "Republicans' War On Farm Dust" (TNR).
10/26/11: TRB column:"Who Cares If The Supercommittee Fails?" (TNR).
10/13/11: TRB column: "My Quest To Find Romney's Convictions" (TNR).
9/28/11: TRB column: "Bracero Teachers" (TNR).
9/14/11: TRB column: "Brooks Brothers Socialism" (TNR).
3/22/11: "The College Derby" (Slate).
2/3/11: "The Harvard Effect" (Slate).
9/3/10: "The United States of Inequality" (10-part Slate series).
8/12/10: "On Not Owning A Summer Home," Part 1 and Part 2 (Slate).
7/23/10: "You Are How You Camped" (Slate).
4/19/10: "Author, Author" (Heritage disavows Obamacare) (Slate)
Aughts:
2/11/09: "Our American Cousin Revisited" (Slate).
2/2/10: "The Groundhog Fraud" (Slate).
8/26/09: "Edward M. Kennedy (1932-2009) (Slate).
3/5/09: "Why No More 9/11s?" (8-part Slate series).
1/26/09: "Wrong Harry" (with Charles Peters) (Slate).
4/17/08: Live Chat on Washingtonpost.com.
2/27/08: "William F. Buckley, RIP" (Slate).
1/28/08: Review of Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism (Slate).
1/13/08: "Fathers And Sons" (New York Times Book Review).
1/13/08: " 'Change': The Empty Word" (L.A. Times).
12/14/07: "Meandering Story Trips Up 'The Walker'" (film review, Washington Post).
11/11/07: "McGoven Redux" (New York Times Book Review).
10/31/07: "If You Knew Pinky..." (Slate).
9/26/07: "Nixon's Jew Count: The Whole Story!" (Slate).
9/26/07: "Blogging Phil Spector"(Slate).
7/29/07: "Donkey King" (New York Times Book Review).
5/15/07: "Jerry Falwell's Hit Parade" (Slate)
4/29/07: "Notes From An Ex-Senator" (New York Times Book Review).
4/9/07-6/13/07: Slate "TV Club" dialog on the last season of The Sopranos with Jeffrey Goldberg (special guests: Brian Williams, Stephen Metcalf, and Terry Winter)
3/29/07: "The Elusive Ronald Reagan" (Washington Post).
2/24/07: "Evicted From Wikipedia" (Slate). Followups here and here.
6/9/05: "A Skeleton Key to 'You're the Top'" (Slate). See also "Drumstick Lipstick, Explained" (Slate, 6/16/05) and
"Who Wrote the Smutty Parody Lyrics to 'You're the Top'?" (Slate, 6/22/05).
2/5/05: "Author, Author" (on Marjorie Williams) (Slate). See also "Mothers, Marjorie, and Me" (Powell's Books) and "What Happened Since Marjorie Died" (Daily Beast, 11/13/08).
12/26/04: "Hard News: Troubled Times" (New York Times Book Review).
8/20/04: "Can You Forgive Them?" (Slate).
9/12/04: "Red Bush and Blue Bush" (New York Times Book Review).
8/5/04: "Assassination Porn" (Slate).
6/6/04: Review of David Brooks' On Paradise Drive (Washington Post).
6/5/04: "Ronald Reagan, Party Animal" (Slate).
11/13/03: "Historians Rewrite History" (Slate).
10/6/03: "The Art of the Sulk" (Slate).
5/20/03: Review of Sidney Blumenthal memoir (Slate).
3/27/02: "David Brock, Liar" (Slate).
2/18/00: "The 1,000-Word Dash" (Slate).
'90s:
11/8/99: "The Wreck of the Edmund Morris" (Fortune).
10/25/99: "After 60 Years, Stassen's Still Going" (Fortune).
8/8/99: "People's Choice Awards" (New York Times Magazine).
6/22/99: "For The Record, No One Knows What "Off The Record' Means" (Slate)
5/10/99 "Snarky Journalist Writes Snarky Novel" (Kurt Anderson's Turn of the Century) (Fortune).
4/26/99: Review of George Stephanopoulos' All Too Human (Fortune).
3/15/99: "Enough Already With the 21st Century Rhetoric" (Fortune).
1/11/99: "The Paradox of Public Housing" (Fortune).
1/11/99: "The Case Agaist Ticktocks" (Slate).
1/2/99: "Restoration Joe's" (Slate).
12/19/98: "Why Do Republican Moderates Still Exist?" (Slate).
11/9/98-11/13/98: Slate dialog with Marjorie Willams about Tom Wolfe's A Man In Full.
8/5/98: "Follow The Semen" (Slate).
7/6/98-7/24/98: “The Breakfast Table” (76-part Slate dialog with Marjorie Williams).
3/15/98: "So Sorry" (my first Slate piece).
10/94: "The World's Most Dangerous Yard Sale" (Washington Monthy).
5/27/90: "It's Not Easy Being Mayor" (profile of Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke) (Washington Post Magazine).
'80s:
12/89: "Born To Be Mild" (Washington Monthly).
10/30/88: "You Can't Beat The Cabal" (New York Times Book Review).
5/2/88: "Saving One High School" (Newsweek).
11/86: "We Need You" (Washington Monthly).
8/4/86: "The View From The Tube" (New Republic).
6/1/86: "The Liberal Shipwreck" (New York Times Book Review).
11/25/85: "Dial M For Muddle" (New York Times op-ed).
3/19/85: "The Fat In College Budgets" (New York Times op-ed).
10/85: "Valley Of The Duds: Inside Hollywood's Bad-Movie Machine" (Washington Monthly).
10/84: Review of Bob Kuttner's The Economic Illusion (Washington Monthly).
4/29/84: Review of James MacGregor Burns' The Power To Lead (New York Times Book Review).
2/84: "The Big Massage" (Washington Monthly).
1/84: "The Washington Post: Monopoly Profits and Broken Promises" (Washington Monthly).
7/83: "Highbrow Robbery" (Washington Monthly).
4/83: "Decline Of A Genre" (Harper's; access restricted to Harper's subscribers).
2/83: "Opinions For Sale" (Harper's; access restricted to Harper's subscribers).
9/82: "Bring Back the WPA" (Washington Monthly).
6/2/82: "Monkey Business" (New Republic).
