Are We Thinking About Gun Violence All Wrong?
The unexpected origins of gun crime
The Illegal Drug at Every Corner Store
Nitrous oxide is widely available as long as everyone pretends it’s being used for whipped cream. An industry has arisen to exploit that loophole.
The Doctor Who Let RFK Jr. Through
The opposition folds.
Two Truths of Trump’s Second Term
Chaos versus strategy is a misleading binary for understanding this presidency.
History Will Judge the Complicit
Why have Republican leaders abandoned their principles in support of an immoral and dangerous president?
American History Is Key to Understanding Trump
The best analogies to understand the U.S. president can be found right in the United States.
The Democrats Show Why They Lost
At a meeting of the DNC, the party seemed to be at pains to demonstrate that it learned nothing from its 2024 defeat.
Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid
It’s not just a phase.
A Novelist Who Looks Into the Dark
Ali Smith scrambles plotlines, upends characters, and flouts chronology—while telling propulsively readable stories.
DeepSeek and the Truth About Chinese Tech
Chinese companies are good at doing more with less—and at using any means necessary.
The ‘Exciting Business Opportunity’ That Ruined Our Lives
Amway sold my family a life built on delusion.
How America Got Mean
In a culture devoid of moral education, generations are growing up in a morally inarticulate, self-referential world.
A Sea Story
One of the worst maritime disasters in European history took place two decades ago. It remains very much in the public eye. On a stormy night on the Baltic Sea, more than 850 people lost their lives when a luxurious ferry sank below the waves. From a mass of material, including official and unofficial reports and survivor testimony, our correspondent has distilled an account of the Estonia’s last moments—part of his continuing coverage for the magazine of anarchy on the high seas.
The Anti-Social Century
Americans are now spending more time alone than ever. It’s changing our personalities, our politics, and even our relationship to reality.
The Army of God Comes Out of the Shadows
Tens of millions of American Christians are embracing a charismatic movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation, which seeks to destroy the secular state.
Dear Therapist: I Was the Other Woman
I know I sound naive, but this wasn’t like a “normal” affair.
What Christopher Hitchens Understood About the Parthenon
The British Museum should return the ancient treasures to Greece for the sake of art, not nationalism.
How the Ivy League Broke America
The meritocracy isn’t working. We need something new.
You’re Being Alienated From Your Own Attention
Every single aspect of human life is being reoriented around the pursuit of attention.
Democracy in Eastern Europe Faces Another Crisis
Protesters in Georgia are trying to stem Putin’s growing influence in the region.