NEXT Visions Toward a Less Divided America: Visions Toward a Less Divided America: Visions Toward a Less Divided America

As it faces waves of climate emergencies and pandemic shutdowns, outrages and protests, America sometimes feels like it's coming apart. The writers in this collection of essays tell a different, more hopeful story: of a country learning not to turn its back to the changeable and restless forces of history.

A mixed-race mother reflects on being mistaken for a nanny at her children's playground. A writer interrogates his own relationship to "Asianness." Parents confront fears around their children's futures, and a historical essay asks us to confront inequality at its starkest: the unmarked graves awaiting some of our unhoused. By looking intimately at the biased thinking that has fueled our divisions, these writers-clear-eyed, inviting, insightful-chart a new way forward. These are the visions that are Next.