How to Stay in Touch With Your Friends
The Atlantic’s writers and editors share what they do when life gets in the way.
Who Gets Panzer Tattooed on Their Arm?
The ink that tells the story of Trump’s second term
Is Anthony Weiner Ready to Go Another Round?
The ex-congressman whose name became a punch line is running for New York’s city council. In some ways, he hasn’t changed a bit.
How Scientists Can Be Good Citizens
We have a responsibility to ensure that our discoveries are used in the public interest. That isn’t always easy.
The Writer Who Understood Aloneness
Mavis Gallant’s short stories are about people, especially women, who prefer to live on the social margins. I cherish one of them most of all.
A White House Briefing Straight From North Korea
How MAGA influencers have reshaped the press corps
Russia Is in Demographic Free Fall. Putin Isn’t Helping.
The Russian president is enacting one of the world’s most extreme natalism programs—and one of the weirdest.
The Short-Circuiting of the American Mind
A century-old book foresaw Trump’s most basic strategy.
The End of the ‘Generic’ Grocery-Store Brand
They’re no longer terrible—in fact, they’re often the draw.
The Key to Critical Self-Awareness
The ancient-Greek commandment Know thyself turns out to be a great modern way to become happier, more empathetic, and more successful.
Universities Deserve Special Standing
A good life and a good society require an ongoing search for understanding and knowledge.
I Should Have Seen This Coming
When I joined the conservative movement in the 1980s, there were two types of people: those who cared earnestly about ideas, and those who wanted only to shock the left. The reactionary fringe has won.
The People Who Quit Dating
Being single can be hard—but the search for love may be harder.
America’s Pro-Disease Movement
How the Trump administration is worsening a public-health crisis
A Trip into Alaska’s Copper River Valley in 1902
At the end of the 19th century, an estimated 100,000 people joined the Klondike Gold Rush, seeking their fortunes in the interior of Alaska and Canada’s Yukon territory. Many gold seekers who chose the arduous path inland from Alaska’s port of Valdez also discovered rich copper deposits along the way. The U.S. Army soon started work on the Valdez Trail, which would become the main route between the mining fields and Valdez. Several competing businesses rushed to build a railroad along the route. In 1902, one of those groups sent a team of photographers, the Miles Brothers, to document the town, the growing trail, the landscape, its newly arrived residents, and Alaska Natives. Prints of these photographs were collected into an album I was able to digitize recently at the U.S. National Archives, giving us a remarkable glimpse into daily life along a rough trail into the Alaskan interior, nearly 125 years ago.
A New Book Challenges the Church’s Reputation on Sex
Mainstream Christianity’s attitudes about sex have always been complicated—and its institutions might even be able to evolve.
American Panopticon
The Trump administration is pooling data on Americans. Experts fear what comes next.
How the Ivy League Broke America
The meritocracy isn’t working. We need something new.
Lighthouse Parents Have More Confident Kids
Sometimes, the best thing a parent can do is nothing at all.
Americans Don’t Do This
On Mahmoud Khalil and the right to free expression