How the Ivy League Broke America
The meritocracy isn’t working. We need something new.
December 2024
In This Issue
How the Ivy League broke America, a Japanese boxer on death row, Nick Cave, and the dark origins of Impressionism. Plus building a Palestinian state, Jimmy O. Yang, Lucy Calkins, Handel's Messiah, Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, eating with the Grateful Dead, and more.
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How Jimmy O. Yang Became a Main Character
The actor spent years stuck in small, clichéd roles. Now, starring in Interior Chinatown, he’s figuring out who he wants to be.
He Was the World’s Longest-Held Death-Row Inmate. He Was Also Innocent.
Each day for 50 years, the Japanese boxer Iwao Hakamada woke up unsure whether it would be his last.
How One Woman Became the Scapegoat for America’s Reading Crisis
Lucy Calkins was an education superstar. Now she’s cast as the reason a generation of students struggles to read. Can she reclaim her good name?
The Exhibit That Will Change How You See Impressionism
The National Gallery’s “Paris 1874” explores the movement’s dark origins.
Dispatches
Illustration by Matt Chase My Hope for Palestine
There’s still a path to lasting peace. But we’ll need a new set of leaders.
Illustration by Raisa Álava What the Band Eats
Memories of the meals I ate growing up with the Grateful Dead
Owen Harvey Hydraulic Revolution
Photographs of Los Angeles’s lowriding scene
Culture & Critics
Illustration by Gabriela Pesqueira. Source: Jim Dyson / Getty. Nick Cave’s Revised Rules for Men
On his new album, he searches out salvation in the face of insecurity and irrelevance.
Illustration by Hokyoung Kim Richard Price’s Radical, Retrograde Novel
In Lazarus Man, he rejects the tropes of contemporary literature.
Illustration by Paul Spella* The Genius of Handel’s Messiah
The oratorio is a feat of sustained inspiration arguably unsurpassed in the canon of Western classical music.
Illustration by Anthony Gerace. Sources: Hulton Archive; Joe Vella / Alamy. 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.
Departments
The Atlantic The Commons: Falling in Love With Reading Will Change Your Life
Readers respond to our November 2024 issue and more.
The Atlantic Caleb's Inferno: December 2024
A devilish crossword puzzle
Poetry
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