{"id":1661197,"date":"2026-02-19T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/?post_type=article&#038;p=1661197"},"modified":"2026-02-18T15:59:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T20:59:43","slug":"a-real-live-socialist-bernie-for-burlington-chiasson_2026-03-12","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/articles\/2026\/03\/12\/a-real-live-socialist-bernie-for-burlington-chiasson\/","title":{"rendered":"A Real Live Socialist"},"content":{"rendered":"Bernie Sanders\u2019s last moment as a little-known American citizen probably occurred in early 1981 wh<div class=\"leaky_paywall_message_wrap\"><div id=\"leaky_paywall_message\">\t<div class=\"paywall\" id=\"paywall-a\">\n\t\t<div class=\"fadeout\"><\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"paywall-content text-center pb-xs-14\">\n\t\t\t<img\n\t\t\t\tloading=\"lazy\"\n\t\t\t\tsrc=\"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Sub_PrintDigital_11062022-72ppi.jpg?w=200\"\n\t\t\t\tsrcset=\"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Sub_PrintDigital_11062022-72ppi.jpg?w=200 200w, https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Sub_PrintDigital_11062022-72ppi.jpg?w=400 400w\"\n\t\t\t\tsizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 200px, 400px\"\n\t\t\t\talt=\"New York Review in various formats\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"paywall-img mb-xs-3\"\n\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"text-xs-20 text-lg-30 mb-xs-1 color-ny-red font-giza\">Continue reading <br\/>for just $1.00 per issue!<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"text-xs-16 mb-xs-2\">Choose a Digital subscription or our best deal \u2013 All Access \u2013 that includes print and digital issues, full archive access, and the NYR App!<\/p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/subscribe.nybooks.com\/ecom\/nyb\/app\/live\/subscriptions?org=NYB&publ=NY&key_code=EPMXM01&type=S\" class=\"button font-giza bg-ny-red color-white hover-text-white hover-expand sign-in-subscribe text-xs-16 mb-xs-3 paywall-offer\"><span>View Offers<\/span><\/a>\n\t\t\t<hr class=\"mt-xs-0 mb-xs-3\"\/>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"text-xs-16 mb-xs-2\">Or\u00a0register\u00a0for a free account to read just this article. <a href=\"\/account\/register\/?level_id=0\" id=\"register\">Register<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"text-label color-gray mb-0\">Already a subscriber? <a href=\"\/account\/signin\/\" class=\"paywall-signin color-gray\">Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"paywall\" id=\"paywall-b\">\n\t\t<div class=\"fadeout\"><\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"paywall-content text-center pb-xs-14\">\n\t\t\t<img\n\t\t\t\tloading=\"lazy\"\n\t\t\t\tsrc=\"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/PrintandDigital-2x_FreeNotebk_02112021-B.jpg?w=200\"\n\t\t\t\tsrcset=\"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/PrintandDigital-2x_FreeNotebk_02112021-B.jpg?w=200 200w, https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/PrintandDigital-2x_FreeNotebk_02112021-B.jpg?w=400 400w\"\n\t\t\t\tsizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 200px, 400px\"\n\t\t\t\talt=\"\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"paywall-img mb-xs-3\"\n\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"text-xs-20 text-lg-30 mb-xs-1 color-ny-red font-giza\">Continue reading for just $1 an issue and get a FREE notebook! 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Choose a Digital subscription or our best deal\u2014All Access\u2014that includes print and digital issues, full archive access, and the NYR App!<\/p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/subscribe.nybooks.com\/ecom\/nyb\/app\/live\/subscriptions?org=NYB&publ=NY&key_code=EPKXM01&type=S\" class=\"button font-giza bg-ny-red color-white hover-text-white hover-expand sign-in-subscribe text-xs-16 mb-xs-3 paywall-offer\"><span>View Offers<\/span><\/a>\n\t\t\t<hr class=\"mt-xs-0 mb-xs-3\"\/>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"text-xs-16 mb-xs-2\">Or\u00a0register\u00a0for a free account to read just this article. <a href=\"\/account\/register\/?level_id=0\" id=\"register\">Register<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"text-label color-gray mb-0\">Already a subscriber? <a href=\"\/account\/signin\/\" class=\"paywall-signin color-gray\">Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n<script>\n\t\/\/ Set link current page variables\n\tvar $ = jQuery;\n\tvar paywall_type = 'register';\n\t$('.paywall-offer').each(function(index) {\n\t\tvar offerLink = $(this).attr('href') + '&current_page=' + window.location.href;\n\t\t$(this).attr('href', offerLink)\n\t})\n\t$('.paywall-offer').on('click', function() {\n\t\tdataLayer.push({'event': 'Paywall Click', 'paywall_type': paywall_type });\n\t})\n\tvar signinLink = $('.paywall-signin').attr('href') + '?current_page=' + window.location.href;\n\t$('.paywall-signin').attr('href', signinLink);\n\n\t\/\/ Push paywall custom event for gtag if it becomes visible\n\t(function() {\n\t\tif (!document.getElementsByClassName('article-main-content').length) {\n\t\t\treturn;\n\t\t}\n\n\t\t\/\/ https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/analytics\/google-tag-manager-dom-listener\/\n\t\tvar targetNode = document.getElementsByClassName('article-main-content')[0];\n\t\tvar config = { attributes: true, attributeFilter: ['style'] };\n\t\tvar callback = function(mutationsList, observer) {\n\t\t\tfor(var index = 0; index < mutationsList.length; index++) {\n\t\t\t\tvar mutation = mutationsList[index];\n\t\t\t\tif (mutation.type === 'attributes') {\n\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log('The ' + mutation.attributeName + ' attribute was modified.');\n\t\t\t\t\tif (document.querySelector('.paywall')) {\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push({'event': 'Paywall Visible', 'paywall_type': paywall_type });\n\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect();\n\t\t\t\t\t\treturn true;\n\t\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t};\n\n\t\tvar observer = new MutationObserver(callback);\n\t\tobserver.observe(targetNode, config);\n\t})()\n<\/script>\n\n<div id=\"paywall-ad\" class=\"inline-banner-ad d-flex flex-column\">\n\t<p class=\"text-label-sm mb-xs-2 mt-xs-2 color-gray text-center\">Advertisement<\/p>\n\t<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1600792242058-0\" style=\"margin: 0 auto;\"><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Bernie Sanders brought to the job of mayor of Burlington and what he did with it help explain what matters to him and how he fits into American political argument.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":1661161,"template":"","categories":[18760,18750,18751],"tags":[],"coauthors":[8448],"class_list":["post-1661197","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biography-memoir","category-politics","category-united-states-politics","article-type-book-review","article-form-review","_issue-2026-03-12","author-roles-by","author-cap-thomas-powers"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"http:\/\/nybooks.com\/articles\/2026\/03\/12\/a-real-live-socialist-bernie-for-burlington-chiasson\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"A Real Live Socialist","url":"http:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/articles\/2026\/03\/12\/a-real-live-socialist-bernie-for-burlington-chiasson\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/articles\/2026\/03\/12\/a-real-live-socialist-bernie-for-burlington-chiasson\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/sanders_bernie-031226-900.jpg?w=125","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/sanders_bernie-031226-900.jpg"},"articleSection":"Biography &amp; 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