The New Yorker
The Flood Will Come
On July 4th, when the Guadalupe River flooded in the Texas Hill Country, the devastating number of deaths was a tragic testament to the force of a raging river. In the Northeast, Vermont has been hit by one intense flood after another. It has a radical plan to counter the threat it faces. John Seabrook reports.
Today’s Mix
Coldplaygate Is a Reminder That There’s No Escaping Going Viral
A C.E.O.’s affair, caught on jumbotron and spread across social media, demonstrates that mass attention on today’s internet tends to be deeply undesirable.
Women Playwrights Lose the Limelight
After years of progress in diversity, many companies’ upcoming slates feature mostly, and in some cases entirely, male-writer lineups. The backslide has prompted an outcry.
What the Cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” Means
CBS and its parent company, Paramount, have set an end date for one of the last public pipelines to some version of the truth.
A Federal Trial Reveals the Sprawling Plan Behind Trump’s Attacks on Pro-Palestinian Students
In Boston, a Reagan appointee is on pace to get to the bottom of the campaign against Mahmoud Khalil and others the Administration wants to deport over their activism.
Mary Had Schizophrenia—Then Suddenly She Didn’t
Some psychiatric patients may actually have treatable autoimmune conditions. But what happens to the newly sane?
The Lede
A daily column on what you need to know.
Behind Trump’s Jeffrey Epstein Problem
The President has tried to blame the Democrats, and, more unexpectedly, he has called those in his base who have asked for a fuller accounting “weaklings” and “stupid.”
Another Doctor Is Dead in Gaza
In February, Marwan Sultan showed me the wrecked hospital where he worked. In July, an Israeli missile killed him.
How Dartmouth Became the Ivy League’s Switzerland
The school has attracted attention for its refusal to join the higher-ed resistance, and for its avoidance of any direct sanctions by the Trump Administration.
Trump Has a Bad Case of Biden on the Brain
Distracted by the President’s constant bashing of his predecessor? Of course not.
Can Trump Deport People to Any Country That Will Take Them?
A Yale Law professor on the Administration’s third-country deportation powers—and why the Supreme Court allowed it to send eight men to a prison in South Sudan.
Chased by Climate Disaster in North Carolina
During Tropical Storm Chantal, a mother worried for the safety of her daughter, who is still grappling with the trauma of Hurricane Helene.
Sick Children Will Be Among the Victims of Trump’s Big Bill
Cuts to federal health-care spending make it harder for doctors to make the oldest promise in medicine: that we will do no harm.
The Fight for Mexican Los Angeles
The city’s Mexican consul is trying to protect local immigrants, but there are limits to what he can accomplish.
The Critics
The Price of Occupation
In Sakir Khader’s photographs of the West Bank, life and death coexist.
“Clint” Highlights the Artistic Modernity of an Old-School Man
Shawn Levy’s biography of Clint Eastwood explores revelatory connections between the filmmaker’s methods and his deep-rooted world view.
Louisa May Alcott’s Utopian Feminist Workplace Novel
In “Work: A Story of Experience,” Alcott fictionalizes her own stints as a servant, a seamstress, a governess, and a lady’s companion—and asks whether a wage counts as freedom for women.
Justin Bieber’s Messy, Improbable Masterpiece
“SWAG” is the artist’s first album to hover above his noisy celebrity, to make a case for its own specificity.
“Eddington” Is a Lethally Self-Satisfied COVID Satire
In Ari Aster’s dark comedy, Joaquin Phoenix plays the sheriff of a New Mexico town riven by political clashes and pandemic anxieties.
The Trophy Abs and Soul Ties of “Love Island USA”
The Peacock reality show, filmed in Fiji, offers a parallel America in which nearly naked contestants attempt to pair up and the audience votes on the winning couple.
The Best Books We Read This Week
A deeply sourced book that lays bare the errancies of the C.I.A. and American intelligence; a novel ruminating on the preservation of ancient traditions in the modern world; a serious academic history tracing the cultural meaning of hair across centuries; and more.
Our Columnists
Bottoms Up for the Big Dumper
Cal Raleigh, of the Seattle Mariners, and of the eponymous big butt, has been drawing a lot of attention lately—but he deserves even more.
Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein, and Three Conspiracy-Theory Theories
Trump rode the paranoid style of MAGA politics to power. Has he discovered that he can’t control it?
How Rembrandt Saw Esther
What the queen means to Jewish tradition and to resisting tyranny and persecution—in the seventeenth century and today.
Gentle Parenting My Smartphone Addiction
An app called Opal finally succeeded at curbing my time spent on social media through a combination of mild friction, encouragement, and guilt.
Donald Trump’s Tariff Dealmaker-in-Chief
How Howard Lutnick, the Secretary of Commerce, plans to transform government into a money-making enterprise.
Ideas
Is the U.S. Ready for the Next War?
With global conflicts increasingly shaped by drones and A.I., the American military risks losing its dominance.
A.I. Is About to Solve Loneliness
The discomfort of feeling lonely shapes us in ways we don’t recognize—and we may not like what we become without it.
Remembrance of Scents Past
At museums, curators are incorporating smells that can transport visitors to a different time.
What Will Become of the C.I.A.?
The covert agency has long believed in the power of knowing one’s enemy. But these days the threats are coming from above.
What I Inherited from My Criminal Great-Grandparents
In working through the Winter case files, I often felt pinpricks of déjà vu: an exact turn of phrase, an absurdly specific expenditure.
The First Time America Went Beard Crazy
A sweeping new history explores facial hair as a proving ground for notions about gender, race, and rebellion.
Puzzles & Games
Take a break and play.
To Be Young, Gifted, and Black at Fenway
My father taught me about jazz, poetry, and philosophy, but he couldn’t show me how to be Black and a Red Sox fan.
In Case You Missed It
How could you have missed me? she thought, her heart thudding. I only just went down to throw the garbage away. She stared at her white front door, which was covered in rust spots. So many that it looked diseased.
“I wasn’t even gone a minute,” she told the door.Continue reading »