THE TALK OF THE TOWN

As a way of launching the race for the Republican Presidential nomination, the Iowa and New Hampshire contests offer a neat thematic juxtaposition: in the Midwest, candidates fight for the social-conservative vote; in New England, for the support of small-business owners.

The Life of the Mother

A high-risk pregnancy in a climate of fear about abortion.

Broken and Rebuilt

Bijayini Satpathy and a new understanding of Indian classical dance.

IMPASSE

\"Prayer for the French Republic\" comes to Broadway.

GHOST TOWN

The return of \"True Detective,\" on HBO.

EXIT, VOICE, AND LOYALTY

A Libyan can't quit London in Hisham Matar's \"My Friends.\"

WITCHY WOMEN

The surprising persistence of the witch trial.

IS A.I. THE DEATH OF I.P.?

The copyright wars, revised and expanded.

CHANCE THE CAT: DAVID MEANS

Does it matter that a cat story resides solely in the body of a cat, remaining neutral as the creature moves through the landscape, operating on pure instinct, and, no matter what, embodying the projected will of the human?

HOSTAGES

As Benjamin Netanyahu clings to power, his country pays a price.

DO NO HARM

Oregon tried a more humane way to address addiction. Then came the backlash.

MILLENNIAL FABLE

Once upon a time, around 2010 or so, there lived a hardworking ant and a carefree grasshopper. The grasshopper was hopping to his heart’s content one sunny morning when the ant trudged by, bearing a large load.

DETAIL ORIENTED

The precision comedy of Jacqueline Novak.

Shamelessly Dramatic

In the plays of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, ugly feelings find sophisticated forms.

MIND IN FLUX

The viscerally complex music of George Lewis.

FRESH DIRECT

A passion-fruit devotee's pilgrimage west.

MAKE IT HURT

Amid the ebbing of empire, Frantz Fanon and Ian Fleming agreed on one thing.

THE BEACH HOUSE

She was hoping he would leave her the beach house, counting on this actually, though he had told her he wasn’t going to.

SHOWING UP

Has school attendance become optional?

THE LONG WAY

Adventures of a teen-age world traveller.

The Cats of L.A.

The "No Kill” movement helps keep cats outdoors. The consequences belie the name.

A Reporter at Large Speed

The competition to create the world's fastest road cars and the rich people who drive them.

DIVIDED HOUSE

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's \"Appropriate\" comes to Broadway.

GENGHIS THE GOOD

Nomadic warriors like the Mongol hordes, scholars argue, built our world.

WINTER SUN

How Camille Pissarro went from mediocrity to magnificence.

OPEN SEASON

The rising popularity of polyamory.

Crown Heights North

The dead man decided to try the running app. He hadn’t run for years. Not since his mid-thirties. Now he was in his early fifties. Or he had been in his early fifties, recently enough. Would he be in his early fifties forever? He tapped the gray oblong and waited as the percentage-downloaded dial advanced, slowly. Much has yet to be revealed, he whispered to himself, in a tone he had used more often when he was a kid, when he had expected his life to resemble a tale of adventure, or of horror, or one with a mystery to solve, or a magical stone to obtain.

THE VENTRILOQUIST

How Hollywood's most in-demand script doctor found his own voice.

NATURE, WOW

Spend five minutes in nature and you’ll see what everyone’s talking about, with the mountains and zoos and watermelons. It’s breathtaking.

TIPPING POINTS

The path from the tossed coin to the swivelling iPad.