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.
American Panopticon
The Trump administration is pooling data on Americans. Experts fear what comes next.
The Jim Crow Economy Is the True Horror in Sinners
The film illustrates the near-impossibility of upward mobility during the segregation era.
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.
The Texas County Where ‘Everybody Has Somebody in Their Family’ With Dementia
And many people with the condition are cared for at home.
What Parents of Boys Should Know
Daughters tend to receive higher levels of affection and patience at home than sons. But the sons might need it more.
Harvard and the Making of the Unabomber
A series of purposely brutalizing psychological experiments may have confirmed Theodore Kaczynski’s still-forming belief in the evil of science while he was in college.
Hitler’s Terrible Tariffs
By seeking to “liberate” Germans from a globalized world order, the Nazi government sent the national economy careening backwards.
The Great Language Flattening
Chatbots learned from human writing. Now it’s their turn to influence us.
Autocracy Crushed My Alma Mater. Then I Got to Columbia.
Smolny College is a warning.
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 End of the ‘Generic’ Grocery-Store Brand
They’re no longer terrible—in fact, they’re often the draw.
The ‘Profound’ Experience of Seeing a New Color
The ecstasy of “olo”
Marvel Doesn’t Have to Try So Hard
The new film Thunderbolts* understands that bigger does not mean better.
History Will Judge the Complicit
Why have Republican leaders abandoned their principles in support of an immoral and dangerous president?
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.
Trump’s Hollow Defense of Tariffs
His usual marketing savvy is nowhere to be seen.
Six Books You’ll Want to Read Outdoors
Reading has been unfairly maligned as an indoor activity for far too long.
The Judiciary Pushback Against Trump’s Agenda
How courts across the country have responded to the president’s immigration agenda
A Defense Against Gaslighting Sociopaths
If you can recognize their signature move, then forewarned is forearmed.
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