The “vital center” is a concept that links the past to the present. Its origins go back to the mid-20th century, and it can best be understood by using 20th-century examples. But it’s also very ...

Emma Green interviews sociologist Phil Gorski, whose new book argues that Americans need to rediscover the “vital center” in this age of polarization. Gorski says that it’s not true that the Founders ...

The epigram of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.’s, 1949 book The Vital Center comes from W.B. Yeats, “The Second Coming:” “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;… The best lack all conviction, while the ...

This is what politics looks like today: a president-elect in Mexico pushes big minimum wage hikes amid unsettled financial markets. In Budapest people queue to vote in local and European elections not ...