Even Worse Than The Da Vinci Code
Conclave treats Catholic theology as mere policy, like the membership rules at Augusta National.
Trains in Trouble
Once, some 20,000 trains traversed the United States, many of them elegant hotels on wheels. Now, most of the great passenger railroads have withered and died and they have been replaced by Amtrak, which has mammoth troubles of its own. Is there any hope for a rail travel revival?
My Home Is a Horror of Unfinished Tasks
Why can’t I get anything done?
The Nature You See in Documentaries Is Beautiful and False
Nature documentaries mislead viewers into thinking that there are lots of untouched landscapes left. There aren’t.
Thanksgiving Should Be in October
A modest proposal for fixing the back-to-back-holiday crunch
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 Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books
To read a book in college, it helps to have read a book in high school.
The Painful Reality of Loving a Conspiracy Theorist
What do you do when a family member falls for QAnon?
Donald Trump’s Most Dangerous Cabinet Pick
Pete Hegseth considers himself to be at war with basically everybody to Trump’s left, and it is by no means clear that he means war metaphorically.
Three Ways to Handle an Awkward Thanksgiving
Even if you’re sitting down with a boorish uncle or a snippy cousin, you can do things to make the occasion a happy one.
The Musical Blockbuster That Didn’t Play By the Rules
Wicked makes the case that audiences aren’t so tired of the genre after all.
The Democrats’ Billionaire Mistake
In a populist moment, the Democratic Party had the extremely rich and the very famous, some great music, and Mark Ruffalo. And they got shellacked.
Thanksgiving Recipes Keep Getting More Outlandish
Trying something new is exciting, but there’s also a financial incentive behind the need to churn out unfamiliar dishes.
The AI War Was Never Just About AI
Tech giants such as Google and Meta need something more than compelling chatbots to win.
Revenge of the COVID Contrarians
They’re angry at the public-health establishment. Now they’re in control of it.
The International Criminal Court’s Folly
The high aspirations with which the tribunal was founded should not shield it from the consequences of its decision to pursue other agendas.
Dear Therapist: No One Wants to Host My In-Laws for the Holidays
My husband’s parents are divorcing, and they are worried about being alone.
Tossing a Bird That Does Not Fly Out of a Plane
A Thanksgiving story about the limits of human empathy
The Perfect Man Who Wasn’t
For years he used fake identities to charm women out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then his victims banded together to take him down.
The Sociopaths Among Us—And How to Avoid Them
You’re bound to come across the “Dark Triad” type of malignant narcissists in life—and they can be superficially appealing. Better to look for their exact opposite.