JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR

AMERICA'S TRIALS

A Special Report from Journal of the Plague Year After the last presidential debate, we all realized that the immediate crisis could very well come to an end Nov. 3. Dire predictions of civil war turn out to be fantasies. America's basic structures withstand the greatest threat they've faced, a concatenation of historical trends that are destabilizing countries around the world turbocharged by our own darkness, anger, dislocation, trauma and grief that in the words of one of our contributors, hark back to the damaged souls who landed at Plymouth Rock. This week, we publish a series of essays and articles linked to the release of Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago Seven. The movie draws parallels between the 1960s and the present. Our writers, who range in age from 22 to 70-something (but who's counting?) bring distinct sensibilities to the question of where we go from here.