The New Yorker
To Be Young, Gifted, and Black at Fenway
As a child growing up in Boston, I often went to games with my father. He taught me about jazz, poetry, and philosophy, but he couldn’t show me how to be Black and a Red Sox fan.
Today’s Mix
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 Rembrandt Saw Esther
What the queen means to Jewish tradition and to resisting tyranny and persecution—in the seventeenth century and today.
Stephen Colbert on Kenneth Tynan’s Profile of Johnny Carson
From Hollywood to the Hasty Pudding, we waft like smoke from an unfiltered Pall Mall through Carson’s worlds, most of which are gone.
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?
The Lede
A daily column on what you need to know.
How Dartmouth Became the Ivy League’s Switzerland
The school has attracted attention for its refusal to join the higher-ed resistance and, perhaps not coincidentally, 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.
Flash Floods and Climate Policy
As the death toll climbs in Texas, the Trump Administration is actively undermining the nation’s ability to predict—and to deal with—climate-related disasters.
Why a Devoted Justice Department Lawyer Became a Whistle-Blower
In the first Trump Administration, “they didn’t say ‘Fuck you’ to the courts,” Erez Reuveni said.
A.I. Is About to Solve Loneliness. That’s a Problem
The discomfort of loneliness shapes us in ways we don’t recognize—and we may not like what we become without it.
Goings On
Recommendations on what to read, eat, watch, listen to, and more.
The Sophisticated Kitsch of Blackpink
Sheldon Pearce on the wildly successful K-pop group’s long-anticipated reunion Deadline tour. Plus: Justin Chang’s favorite summer blockbusters, and more.
The Trophy Abs and Soul Ties of “Love Island USA”
Vinson Cunningham writes about Peacock’s hit reality show, in which nearly naked contestants attempt to pair up and the audience votes on the winning couple.
“Eddington” Is a Lethally Self-Satisfied COVID Satire
Justin Chang reviews Ari Aster’s dark comedy, in which Joaquin Phoenix plays the sheriff of a town riven by political clashes and pandemic anxieties.
Advice to Writers
Rachel Kushner, the author of “Creation Lake,” on how artists steal from the world.
“Double Time for Pat Hobby”
On the day that Pat met Jim Dasterson in the barrier, he had less than a dollar in one pocket and an ounce of gin in the other.
Dept. of Hoopla
From the mind of Seth Reiss.
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.
The Critics
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.
“Cloud” Is a Cautionary Tale of E-Commerce—and the Summer’s Best Action Movie
In Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s film, a crafty online grifter learns that digital crimes beget analog punishments.
A New Agnès Varda Exhibition Is an Extension of Her Life’s Work
Rooted in Varda’s early photography, the Musée Carnavalet’s show illuminates and clarifies the singular nature of a great filmmaker’s achievement.
Beauford Delaney’s Light and Faith
How the artist both hid and found himself in his work, which is featured in a new exhibition.
A Memoir of Working-Class Britain Wrings Playfulness from Pain
The writer Geoff Dyer unravels a tale in which the intricacies of model airplanes and the comic horrors of school lunch mingle with something darker.
How “The First Homosexuals” Shaped an Identity
A timely exhibition dissects the emergence of modern ideas about gender and sexuality—and the backlash against them.
The Best Books We Read This Week
An astute and absorbing collection of short stories; a blend of history and polemic that shows how contemporary design has evolved beyond simple aesthetic considerations; an enthralling account of a couple set adrift in the Pacific for a hundred and eighteen days; and more.
Our Columnists
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.
Can A.I. Find Cures for Untreatable Diseases—Using Drugs We Already Have?
For many medical conditions, lifesaving treatments may be hiding in plain sight.
Wimbledon in the Age of Sincaraz
Jannik Sinner avenged his loss at the French Open with a commanding victory over Carlos Alcaraz, in the latest chapter of a transcendent rivalry.
How Much More “TACO” Madness Can the U.S. Economy Take?
The stock market’s record-setting run suggests Wall Street isn’t taking Donald Trump’s tariffs and threats seriously—but they are already harming the economy.
A Family Doctor’s Search for Salvation
Instead of turning inward after the death of his son, Dr. Greg Gulbransen turned outward: toward documentary photography and people whose lives he might be able to save.
Ideas
Is It the Phones?
In recent years, an irresistibly intuitive hypothesis has both salved and fuelled parental anxieties: screens are harming teens.
Remembrance of Scents Past
At museums, curators are incorporating smells that can transport visitors to a different time.
Teaching Men Who Will Never Leave Prison
In a maximum-security facility in New York, students tackled Samuel Richardson’s “Clarissa” and Tolstoy’s “War and Peace,” finding a new sense of purpose.
What Was Paul Gauguin Looking For?
The artist has lately been derided as a colonizer and a pedophile, the creep of the Post-Impressionists. A new book reëxamines his vision.
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.
The First World War, in Sharp Focus
An English chronicler of the trenches, and his wartime romance, captured in long-lost photographs.
Puzzles & Games
Take a break and play.