The Magic Mountain Saved My Life
When I was young and adrift, Thomas Mann’s novel gave me a sense of purpose. Today, its vision is startlingly relevant.
George Packer
George Packer is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He is the author of 10 books, including The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America (a winner of the 2013 National Book Award); Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century (the winner of the 2019 Hitchens Prize and Los Angeles Times Book Prize); and, most recently, Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal. Before joining The Atlantic in 2018, he was a staff writer at The New Yorker for 15 years. He writes about American politics and culture and U.S. foreign policy.
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Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty. The Campus-Left Occupation That Broke Higher Education
Elite colleges are now reaping the consequences of promoting a pedagogy that trashed the postwar ideal of the liberal university.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Sources: Fred W. McDarrah / Getty; Yuki Iwamura / Getty. Salman Rushdie Strikes Back
In a new memoir, the author reckons with the attack that nearly took his life.
Clement Pascal / The New York Times / Redux What Does the Working Class Really Want?
Vying for its crucial support, neither Democrats nor Republicans are focusing on the essential question.
Illustration by Mike McQuade. Sources: Brooks Kraft / Corbis / Getty; Leif Skoogfors / Getty; Cynthia Johnson / Getty; Bettmann / Getty.
