The New Yorker
American Idols
Who’s your favorite American? We asked Tommy Orange, Marilynne Robinson, David Simon, Tara Westover, and other thinkers. Their answers included scientists, playwrights, pop stars, bureaucrats—and one cartoon character.
Today’s Mix
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Marriage Plot
The nuptials promised a kind of narrative closure for Swifties: after the pop star spent years singing about imagined weddings, her life was finally catching up with her art.
Donald Trump Celebrates America’s Two-Hundred-and-Fiftieth Birthday
At the Great American State Fair, in Washington, D.C., and at the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Library, in North Dakota, the President casts himself as the rightful heir to American greatness.
The Unprecedented Profiteering Revealed by Donald Trump’s Financial Disclosure
The President cashed in on his office to the tune of billions of dollars last year, largely through the sale of crypto tokens. His investors weren’t so fortunate.
The U.S. Men’s Soccer Team Is Rewriting Its History
The Yanks won their first knockout-round match in more than twenty years. But, after a controversial red card, they will be down their breakout star in the round of sixteen.
The Intimate Legacies of a White-Supremacist Coup
A racist takeover in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1898, has reverberated across generations as a reminder of American democracy’s terrifying vulnerability.
The Lede
A daily column on what you need to know.
The Supreme Court Upheld Birthright Citizenship—but the Fight May Not Be Over
.jpg)
The decision that rejected Donald Trump’s attempts to rewrite the Constitution was much too close.
The Supreme Court’s Check on Trump’s Power Was Too Close for Comfort
Despite some rulings that limited the President’s authority, the Court made clear its commitment to a conservative agenda.
Searching for Survivors After Venezuela’s Historic Earthquakes
With nearly fifty thousand people still missing, an improvised rescue operation comprising civilians, local firefighters, and foreign brigades is racing to sift through the wreckage.
Behind the Supreme Court’s Ruling on Transgender Athletes
The decision, unanimous on Title IX but split 6–3 on equal protection, upheld bans in twenty-seven states on transgender female athletes playing on girls’ and women’s teams.
Erling Haaland Plays Like a Viking
Norway’s hulking striker brought his country back to the World Cup for the first time in almost thirty years. How far can they go?
An Ecuadorian Fishing Boat Disappears Amid Trump’s Strikes in the Pacific
The President claims to be targeting vessels involved in drug trafficking. Were the fishermen who went missing with the Fiorella collateral damage?
Why Have Liberals Abandoned a Moral Reading of the Constitution?
From slavery to abortion, conservatives and liberals alike have reached for “natural law” to resolve many of the country’s most important cases. But, in recent years, the balance has shifted.
Goings On
Recommendations on what to read, eat, watch, listen to, and more.
How to Celebrate America’s 250th Birthday
For the county’s monumental milestone, Sheldon Pearce shares some of the city’s most entertaining offerings. Plus, Rachel Syme investigates the latest in Day-Glo fashion, and more.
The Coastal Mysteries of “Romería” and “Rose of Nevada”
In rich, melancholy new films from the directors Carla Símon and Mark Jenkin, the restorative power of cinema turns out to be a shore thing, Justin Chang writes.
Every Generation Gets the Fro-Yo It Deserves
Helen Rosner reviews the best frozen-yogurt spots in town, which aren’t necessarily the ones that draw long lines.
Pocket Reads for the Summer
.gif)
In honor of the season, New Yorker writers name some of their favorite small books—works short enough to finish in a single August afternoon.
The Billionaires’ Vagina Club
With her motto, “Sexual health is health,” Dr. Sally Greenwald aims to optimize orgasms for the women of Silicon Valley.
The Body Issue
Are Humanoid Robots Ready to Be Deployed?
Neo and a dozen other robots with human forms are scheduled to hit the market. Experts are nervous.
What Happened to Your Face?
How the human countenance became something to study, edit, optimize, and scan.
Something Is Very Wrong with Modern Longevity Science
A new book argues that many of the world’s oldest people aren’t so old after all.
The Fibre Fad Keeps On Moving
How a nutritional trend brought bathroom talk into the realm of food culture.
The Critics
“Couture,” Reviewed: Angelina Jolie Faces Trouble with Style
The new melodrama, starring Jolie as a movie director, treats the Paris fashion world as a backdrop for medical and domestic crises.
At Pacha New York, an Infamous Night Club Is Reborn
After the Brooklyn Mirage—a popular but troubled music venue—was torn down, a glitzy Ibiza institution took its place.
The Met’s “Costume Art” Makes a Case for Fashion
From its new galleries off the museum’s Great Hall, the Costume Institute seeks to put clothing at the center of art history.
Ryan McGinley Tries to Photograph What It Means to Be Alive
In “Night Shift,” his first New York show in eight years, the photographer brings his travelling bacchanal home to the city’s streets.
Sublime Fury at the Ojai Festival
In an idyllic setting, Leila Josefowicz and Esa-Pekka Salonen delivered an explosive performance of Ligeti’s Violin Concerto.
Nobody’s a Stranger When You Play “No Letting Go”
To a young d.j. in 2003, Wayne Wonder’s dancehall anthem seemed like a beacon from a better world.
What We’re Reading
A rich and often funny book that investigates one of literature’s most challenging endeavors: replacing every word in a Shakespeare play with words from another language while having the result remain the Bard; a harrowing novel about two families who pass long, uncertain hours in the waiting rooms of a Manhattan hospital; and more.
Dept. of Hoopla
Fire up the grill.
The Tick That Hunts Down Its Hosts—Including Us
Lone-star ticks don’t just pursue and bite people. The affliction they’re spreading, an allergy to red meat known as alpha-gal syndrome, attacks a way of life.
Our Columnists
Why the Last Battle of the American Revolution Was Fought In India
The conflicts that took place elsewhere in the world have receded from our collective imagination, but the American rebellion was, in many ways, a sideshow to a far greater imperial drama.
Serena Williams Returns to Wimbledon
For a moment, it looked like the forty-four-year-old would pull off another stunning comeback in the tournament she has won seven times. Then reality sank in.
Donald Trump Has Officially Lost the Plot
His refusal to sign a bipartisan affordable-housing bill demonstrates his obliviousness to the economic concerns of voters.
The Joyful Pointlessness of World Cup Sticker Books
For a parent, finding a children’s activity that hasn’t been digitized, optimized, or turned into gambling feels like a balm.
How a Mass Shooting Shattered Australia’s Political Consensus
After the country’s most deadly act of gun violence in nearly thirty years, some politicians asked whether the real problem wasn’t gun control but antisemitism. Were they right?
Ideas
What’s the Point of Sex, Anyway?
The world’s life-forms reproduce sexually in a bewildering variety of ways, even though scientists still aren’t sure why they bother.
Misery Loves Company—If There Are Snacks
Do “admin nights,” at which people meet up to do their boring administrative tasks together, make people more productive or less lonely?
When Did White-Collar Work Start to Look So Bleak?
In the nineteen-eighties, an office job promised security and fulfillment. For graduates starting careers today, the prospect is often tinged with dread.
Did an English Nobleman Mastermind the American Revolution?
America’s fight for independence is often considered a battle fought and won at home. A new book argues that it was propelled by a transnational élite an ocean away.
László Krasznahorkai Writes Because He Fails
The Nobel laureate on his notoriously long sentences, our estrangement from beauty, and why he would “never voluntarily reread” one of his books.
Colson Whitehead’s Big Score
As he closes out his Harlem crime trilogy with “Cool Machine,” the two-time Pulitzer winner turns again to the city that made him, and to the private ghosts behind his restless reinventions.
Puzzles & Games
Take a break and play.
The Popularity Contests of “Love Island”
Most romantic reality TV would have us believe that dating is about getting married, or simply being chosen. One show knows better.
In Case You Missed It
Late as I was, I figured I’d be walking right into an active scenario. Crazy Omar, maybe. Or Outnumbered and Outgunned. I thought I’d hear the thud of stun grenades and hillbilly shouts of “Allahu akbar! ” I expected to taste the bitter clouds of cordite drifting over the lawn and see the green muzzle flash of machine guns firing blanks on full auto. Above all, I assumed I’d find wounded pigs dying on the grass.Continue reading »
