How to Keep Time: Look Busy
If time is a luxury, why don’t we flaunt it?
The Eerie Intensity of Adam Driver on Saturday Night Live
The actor offered an idiosyncratic antidote to bland winter cheer.
Weather
A poem for Sunday
Catch Up on a Year of Culture
A roundup of some Atlantic writing that guided our readers through the year in film, TV, and sold-out stadium tours
The Two Republican Theories for Beating Trump
Both strategies so far look insufficient to the challenge.
Modern Britain Is a Scene From Slow Horses
Inspired by Mick Herron’s satirical novels, the Apple series captures a nation beset by institutional failure, political corruption, and hopelessness.
Will Foreign-Policy Debates Decide Biden’s Fate?
Watch the full episode of Washington Week With The Atlantic, December 8, 2023
How to Love Winter a Little More
It’s about how you dress but also how you think.
Wood That Is See-Through Like Glass and Stronger Than Plastic
Transparent wood could soon make its way into touch screens, skyscraper windows, and car dashboards.
‘We Only Need Some Metal Things’
Will America abandon Ukraine?
Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos Get Honest With Each Other
The duo behind the fantastical film Poor Things talk sex, trust, and self-discovery.
The Joy of Underperforming
The idea of life having “seasons” has become a common way of talking yourself through a sudden upheaval.
The Dark Side of Christmas Music
Many of the songs combine gloom with cheer, echoing what the holidays can do for us.
AI’s ‘Fog of War’
How can institutions protect Americans against a technology no one fully understands?
Hayao Miyazaki Is Thinking About the End
The Boy and the Heron, which could be the Studio Ghibli co-founder’s final film, is more of a bold reinvention than a somber farewell.
Hopeful Images From 2023
I’ve made it an annual tradition to compose an essay of uplifting images from the past 12 months—an effort to seek out and recognize some of the joy and kindness present in the world around us, even in the midst of another tough year.
The Best Strategy for Late-December Reading
At this time of the year, I try to resist the pressure to be productive.
A Novel That Shows the Dark Side of Utopia
Gabriel Bump’s new book examines the human impulse to build new societies—and to destroy them.
The College Board Tries Again
The nonprofit has released an updated curriculum for its AP African American Studies course, correcting many of its earlier missteps.
The Universities That Don’t Understand Academic Freedom
Leaders of prestigious institutions who can’t say whether advocating “the genocide of Jews” is allowed on campus seem to have a basic literacy problem with free speech.