Seventy Miles in Hell
The Darién Gap was once considered impassable. Now hundreds of thousands of migrants are risking treacherous terrain, violence, hunger, and disease to travel through the jungle to the United States.
The Carry-On-Baggage Bubble Is About to Pop
Airplanes aren’t made for this much luggage.
The Big Thing to Know About Pain
Trying to avoid suffering can paradoxically make it worse. You can train your mind to find a better way.
Donald Trump, the Most Unmanly President
Why don’t the president’s supporters hold him to their own standard of masculinity?
The Most Memorable Advice of 2024
Musings to carry from one year to the next
The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake
The family structure we’ve held up as the cultural ideal for the past half century has been a catastrophe for many. It’s time to figure out better ways to live together.
How Do You Forgive the People Who Killed Your Family?
Thirty years after the genocide in Rwanda, survivors and perpetrators live side by side.
Are Young Men Really Becoming More Sexist?
What the research says about the gender divide across the world
A Diet Writer’s Regrets
No one has ever known so much about healthy eating and been less successful at following her own advice.
The Most Mysterious Cells in Our Bodies Don’t Belong to Us
You carry literal pieces of your mom—and maybe your grandma, and your siblings, and your aunts and uncles.
The Best Movies, TV Shows, and Books of 2024
Spend time with our writers’ and editors’ picks.
Six Books to Read by the Fire
Each of these titles is a perfect companion while the days grow imperceptibly longer.
The 10 Best Albums of 2024
This year’s most exciting artists rejected consensus and did things their way.
The Last Days of the Barcode
The invention that shaped our consumer appetites
The Joy of Reading Books in High School
Atlantic staffers and readers share.
How Tortillas Lost Their Magic
Most American tortillas taste like cardboard. Chefs, restaurants, and companies are trying to restore the corny glory.
Bob Dylan Broke Rules. A Complete Unknown Follows Them.
The biopic turns its subject’s independence and idiosyncrasies into the stuff of bland summary.
The Baby Reindeer Mess Was Inevitable
The hit Netflix show appeals to many of our worst instincts as viewers.
Trump Is About to Betray His Rural Supporters
Small-town America voted heavily in his favor—but the policies he’s pledged won’t reward that faith.
Masters of Love
Science says lasting relationships come down to—you guessed it—kindness and generosity.