MIDDLE-AGE FANTASIES

You are seated on the examination table when the nurse enters. She’s tall and raven-haired, with enormous blue eyes and candy-red lips. She says hello with a husky Eastern European accent, which reminds you of a recent episode of “The Daily” about Polish elections.

the buggy RODDY DOYLE

There were people at the far end of the beach. Some adults, a lot of children.

THE PLAGUE DOCTOR

Anthony Fauci on what's ailing America.

HEAT RISING

The era of the line cook.

UNSHATTERED

How the philosopher Charles Taylor would reënchant the world.

THE SPACE BETWEEN

\"Janet Planet.\" The first time we meet Janet in \"Janet Planet,\" a wondrous début feature from the celebrated playwright Annie Baker, she is standing on a rural road a little way from the camera.

LABOR PAINS

Lucy Kirkwood's \"The Welkin\" assesses women's work.

GHOSTS ON THE WATER

Glass eels are mysterious creatures—and worth a fortune to those who catch them.

THE CRACKDOWN

Fighting drug gangs, a young President declares war within his own country.

SMALL WONDER

How will nanomachines change our lives?

IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME

The strange journey of John Lennon's stolen Patek Philippe watch.

OFFLINE

Lizzy McAlpine on the power and pitfalls of viral fame.

FOND OF FLAGS

My wife is fond of fast food. I am not. My wife is particularly fond of the Wendy’s Baconator. I argue that it’s less expensive to order a Dave’s Double with a side of bacon, then put your own pretzels on top. (I’m fond of the Rold Gold Tiny Twists Original.)

TROPHY ROOM

Going on safari.

SCREEN GRAB

How CoComelon conquered children's television.

GREAT MIGRATIONS

\"Home\" and \"What Became of Us.\"

SICK, SAD WORLD

What COVID did to fiction.

CHICAGO ON THE SEINE CAMILLE BORDAS

I used to tell myself stories on the job, to make it feel exciting—spy stories, exfiltration stories, war stories. I used to come up with poignant little details that turned the repatriation cases I worked on into “Saving Private Ryan,” into “Johnny Got His Gun.”

A SEMBLANCE OF PEACE

How life in a co-living community changed after October 7th.

MOVE IN FOR THE CULL

The complicated calculus of killing some wild creatures to protect others.

EVERYTHING IN HAND

The C.I.A.'s covert ops have mattered-but not in the way that it hoped.

HIS BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED FANTASY

Ye bought a masterpiece by Tadao Ando-and gave it a violent remix.

Magical Thinking

GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ's One Hundred Years of Solitude has never been faithfully adapted for the screen partly because he wouldn't allow it in his lifetime. With a Netflix series now in the works, VF tracks the long journey of a masterpiece

FUNNY GIRL

AYO EDEBIRI IS explaining the shock of her fame to me over a spread of duck pot pie (hers) and Caesar salad topped with rib eye (mine) at Chicago's Armitage Alehouse. (Our food belongs in this celebrity interview because, well, The Bear.)

Beyond a BOUNDARY

With sped-up matches and a bevy of big-money backers, cricket is pitching an American resurgence

JUSTICE Without Borders

Inside the effort to prosecute Russians for Ukraine war crimes in Argentina

The Writing on THE WALL

The promise of poststrike opportunities kept TV writers from losing hope last year. Now a new season of bleak financial realities is testing their resolve all over again.

VANITIES

NICHOLAS GALITZINE kicks into high gear

TAKE NO PRISONERS

The State Department's hostage point man, Roger Carstens, works to free US citizens from captivity, whether they're being held by Vladimir Putin or Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. ADAM CIRALSKY embeds with America's top negotiators through 15 months of rescue efforts with the highest of stakes: liberty or death

THE HIT MAN

Between Anyone but You and the upcoming Twisters, GLEN POWELL has seen all kinds of action on the way to becoming one of Hollywood's hottest young stars