The Plight of the Eldest Daughter
Women are expected to be nurturers. Firstborns are expected to be exemplars. Being both is exhausting.
The Destruction of the Department of Justice
When people at the department embrace Trump’s scorn for the law, the law, as a practical limitation on government action, ceases to exist.
How the World Became Awash in Synthetics
It started in 1934, with a PR crisis.
The SNL Sketch That Captured Millennial Anxiety
The guest host Quinta Brunson was the perfect fit to introduce “Forever 31.”
A Military Loyal to Trump
In 2020, the armed forces were a bulwark against Donald Trump’s antidemocratic designs. Changing that would be a high priority in a second term.
The Pro-Family Policy This Nation Actually Needs
If the Trump administration wants more babies, it needs to embrace a different kind of parent.
The Short-Circuiting of the American Mind
A century-old book foresaw Trump’s most basic strategy.
How to Define Old Age
Why would the World Health Organization want to call “old age” a disease?
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.
How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days
He used the constitution to shatter the constitution.
Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid
It’s not just a phase.
‘The Worst Internet-Research Ethics Violation I Have Ever Seen’
The most persuasive “people” on a popular subreddit turned out to be a front for a secret AI experiment.
We’re Back to the Actually Internet
Fact-checking is out, “Community Notes” are in.
Parenthood Cannot Be Optimized
Amanda Hess’s new book examines a surplus of experts and gadgets that promise to perfect the experience of raising children.
A Defense Against Gaslighting Sociopaths
If you can recognize their signature move, then forewarned is forearmed.
How the Ivy League Broke America
The meritocracy isn’t working. We need something new.
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.
Why Are Young People Everywhere So Unhappy?
Here’s the answer to that—and what we can do about it.
We’ve Been Thinking About Love All Wrong
What illness taught me about true friendship
Lighthouse Parents Have More Confident Kids
Sometimes, the best thing a parent can do is nothing at all.
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