Imagine the Worst

How to head off the next insurrection

January 6 Was Practice

Donald Trump is better positioned to subvert an election now than he was in 2020.

Dangerous Prophecies

The assumption that civil war is inevitable in America is inflammatory and corrosive.

Unwrappers' Delight

Americans can’t resist the lure of elaborate packaging.

The Autocrats Are Winning

If the 20th century was the story of liberal democracy’s progress toward victory over other ideologies— communism, fascism, virulent nationalism— the 21st century is, so far, a story of the reverse.

The End Of Trust

Suspicion is undermining the American economy.

The Miraculous Sound of Forgiveness

In his thrillingly transgressive opera The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart pulled off his most amazing musical feat.

How Self-Reliant Was Emerson?

Transcendentalism, the American philosophy that championed the individual, emerged from an exceptionally tight-knit community.

The Singularity is Here

Artificially intelligent advertising technology is poisoning our societies.

The Martial Art I Can't Live Without

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has been compared to chess, philosophy, even psychoanalysis. But its real appeal is on the mat.

Several People Are Typing

Slack made it easier to crack jokes and easier to stir up trouble. Employees love it. Bosses don’t.

Unhappy Returns

What really happens to all the pants that don’t fit

Snowbirds

Photographs by Naomi Harris

The Antiquities Cop

Matthew Bogdanos is on a mission to prosecute the wealthy dealers and collectors who traffic in the looted relics of ancient civilizations.

Shape-Shifting Animals on an Inhospitable Planet

Lizards’ feet are morphing, squid are shrinking, butterflies’ wings are growing stronger.

In Defense of the Insufferable Music Fan

What we lose when we “like everything”

It Didn't Have to Be This Way

A brilliant account of 30,000 years of change upends the bedrock assumptions about human history.

The Men Who Are Killing American's Newspapers

Inside Alden Global Capital, the secretive hedge fund gutting newsrooms and damaging democracy

The Engineers' Daughter

James and Lindsay Sulzer have spent their careers developing technologies to help people recover from disease or injury. A freak accident changed their work—and lives—forever.

Facebookland

The social giant isn’t just acting like an authoritarian power. It is one.

W. G. Sebald, Usurper of Lives.

Germany’s renowned and morally scrupulous novelist ransacked the stories of Jewish lives for his fictions. Does it matter?

How I Fell for Formula 1

Netflix got Americans like me to finally care about auto racing. The NFL might want to take notes.

The Unwritten Rules of Black TV

For decades, Black writers and producers have had to tell stories that fit what white executives deemed “authentic.” Can a new generation finally change that?

Jonathan Franzen Finally Stopped Trying Too Hard

At last he put aside the pyrotechnics and went all in on his great theme: the American family.

Where Is Our Paradise of Guilt-Free Sex?

Half a century after the sexual revolution, we still haven’t reconciled what we should want with what we do want.

Everybody Wants to Rule the World

A new game builds on the addictive appeal of Sid Meier’s Civilization.

Colson Whitehead Subverts the Crime Novel

In a country born of theft, everyone is an accomplice.

The Xanax of Stand-Up

Nate Bargatze’s humor is slow, inoffensive, even soothing. And he’s one of the hottest acts in comedy.

Emmett Till – The Barn

In the Mississippi Delta, an unmarked building sits 100 yards from a gravel road. Sixty-six years ago, just past daybreak, a Chevrolet truck pulled up. Four white men rode in the cab. A 14-year-old child was in the back. His name was Emmett Till.

The Would-Be Savior of Patagonia

Are environmental crusaders like Douglas Tompkins good for the planet?