The Opinions Essay
Latest Essays
(Lars Leetaru/For The Washington Post)
Men are lost. Here’s a map out of the wilderness.
No one's offering men a model except the right. It's time for a new plan.
Here’s the inside story of how Congress failed to rein in Big Tech
How broken is Congress? Its failure to rein in Big Tech is a portrait of lawmakers' fear and dysfunction.
To his final days, my father always knew how to pull off the landing
Like so many sons, I’ve spent long stretches of my life trying to reassemble the life of a man who both awed and scared me for almost as long as I knew him.
I lost 40 pounds on Ozempic. But I’m left with even more questions.
Ozempic’s just part of a new arsenal of medications being used to treat obesity.
More Opinions Features
(Yan Wu/The Washington Post)
With the counteroffensive underway, 12 charts show the latest from Ukraine
Much hinges on how the war proceeds over the next few weeks.
The Tao of Deception: A Summer Thriller by David Ignatius
This fictional spy thriller explores the mystery behind an intelligence crisis — and the broader tale of U.S.-China competition in the decades since.
Heat, light and history — the fabric of my ‘Summer’ quilt draws from them all
My ‘Seasons’ quilt project explores new directions while honoring the centuries-old traditions of African American fabric art. This quilt draws on my Virginia family's history.
Audiences want a different climate change message. Hollywood should deliver.
To shift the conversation, we need stories of creativity and hope.
These people did not have to die
The lives lost in Allen, Tex. — and all those before them — must be a spur to action.
Type in your job to see how much AI will affect it
New research assesses how much disruption we can expect from the fast-developing technology
Can the Capitol hold a much bigger House? Yes, here’s how it would look.
A team of architectural and information designers showed me that more is possible than I imagined.
What 6 data points tell us about the status of the war in Ukraine
Looking at territory held by Russia, U.S. security assistance, Ukraine's budget deficit and more can paint a picture of the war's status.
Alexandra Petri presents: Real or fake? A history quiz!
Or, what happens when I spend my spare time making up Important American Documents.
From the Archives
How our democracy has made dependency a right
Progressives want to dilute the concept of individualism, but that’s antithetical to America’s premise.
Want to build a far-right movement? Spain’s Vox party shows how.
Vox blazed across the Internet, dividing its country. Now it’s in parliament.
The strongmen strike back
Authoritarianism has reemerged as the greatest threat to the liberal democratic world — a profound ideological, as well as strategic, challenge. And we have no idea how to confront it.
Iran has reinvented the hostage crisis, 40 years later
Taking hostages has become a tool of diplomacy.
Jamal Khashoggi: A missing voice, a growing chorus
The quests that animated the Saudi journalist’s life cannot be so easily defeated.
China tried to erase the memory of Tiananmen Square. But its legacy lives on.
Three decades after the crackdown, Beijing is still terrified of the movement and what it stood for.
As brands keep wading in, it’s time to ask: Is Pride for sale?
Pride celebrations and the corporations that sponsor them are deeply intertwined, with far-reaching consequences.
Voices of the Movement podcast: Stories from civil rights leaders who changed America
A collection of memories from the past and lessons for the future from the people who lived through the movement, as told through a nine-episode podcast series.
‘If you don’t get at that rot, you just get more officers like Josh Hastings’
The shooting of 15-year-old Bobby Moore revealed a horror show of misconduct, cover-up and cascading institutional failure at the Little Rock Police Department.
She reported her rape. Her hometown turned against her. Can justice ever be served?
Twelve years later, past and present residents of Arlington, Tex., are still reckoning with Amber Wyatt’s story.
Trump’s travel ban is tearing couples apart: ‘My entire life has been put on hold’
One is American. The other is Iranian. This short film shows what happens when the U.S. government keeps you from your spouse.
Gun reforms can save lives. Science proves it.
Those who oppose reforms say nothing can be done. That’s demonstrably wrong.
The tweets, statements and speeches that defined Trump’s first year as president
We present the highlights: Year One of the Trump administration, as told by those who are (or were) part of it.
The one best idea for ending sexual harassment
We asked 16 leaders what one change could help stop sexual harassment in their fields.
Ken Burns wants ‘The Vietnam War’ to unite America. Can anyone do that under Trump?
When the filmmaker started his new series, he had no idea it would coincide with the most divisive era since Vietnam.
How police censorship shaped Hollywood
The police story is one of the elemental dramas of American popular culture.
