The Sense That Most Defines a Culture
Yáng Shuāng-zǐ’s Taiwan Travelogue shows how colonization shapes a country’s culinary landscape.
The Fairy Tale We’ve Been Retelling for 125 Years
Every generation has an Oz story, but one retelling best captures what makes L. Frank Baum’s world sing.
What to Read If You’re Angry About the Election
These seven books aren’t a cure for rage and despair. Think of them instead as a prescription.
The Secrets to a Successful Potluck Dish
Six writers and editors share their go-to recipes
Your Armpits Are Trying to Tell You Something
The best time to apply antiperspirant is right before bed. Seriously.
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.
Put Down the Vacuum
Americans need to get off the tidiness treadmill.
Another Theory of the Trump Movement
Who else but Sigmund Freud to help explain?
The #MeToo Cabinet
Trump’s choice to begin a new administration with this particular slate of picks represents a remarkable commitment to moral ugliness.
Cher Has a History Lesson for Us All
The singer has long stood for a brassy, strutting kind of survival. Her new account of her early life explains how that came to be.
The Most Coveted Screenshot in the Literary World
It’s what proves you’re a “real” writer.
Was Agriculture the Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race?
Did it solve scarcity or create it?
Photos of the Week: Bomb Cyclone, Rainbow Hills, Park Hawk
Christmas decorations in England, a virtual taekwondo championship in Singapore, a mummified saber-toothed tiger cub in Russia, a new volcanic eruption in Iceland, and much more
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?
How America Got Mean
In a culture devoid of moral education, generations are growing up in a morally inarticulate, self-referential world.
Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid
It’s not just a phase.
You’re Showering Too Much
Wash your hands, but lay off the other parts.
The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books
To read a book in college, it helps to have read a book in high school.
What the Men of the Internet Are Trying to Prove
Jake Paul is an emblem of a generation starving for purpose while gorging on spectacle.
There’s No Longer Any Doubt That Hollywood Writing Is Powering AI
Dialogue from these movies and TV shows has been used by companies such as Apple and Anthropic to train AI systems.
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