Who Do the Benin Bronzes Belong to?

Thousands of pieces of art were looted by the British in what is now Nigeria, and are held mostly in Western museums. What to do with them is a harder question than it might seem.

The Operator

The journalist Sergii Leshchenko has a knack for inserting himself into the pivotal moments of Ukraine's history. I wanted to see the war through his eyes.

The Wedding Present

As a young woman, I had a friendly correspondence with a German soldier right after the war. I've been thinking about the silence at the core of our exchange ever since.

JOHN ROBERTS'S LONG GAME

Is this the end of the Voting Rights Act?

The Roots of Republican Extremism

Three new books attempt to trace the GOP's break with reality.

The Diagnosis Trap

Doctors have their stories to tell about mental illness. But what about the stories we tell ourselves?

Cursive Is History

My students can't read script. How will they interpret the past?

A World Without White People

Mohsin Hamid's empty parable of race transformation

"We Need To Take Away Children."

The secret history of the U.S. government's family-separation policy

The Greatest Talker of His Time

Felix Frankfurter was an eloquent liberal champion of judicial restraint. Is it time for a reappraisal?

Rez Life

Sterlin Harjo's genre-mixing, cliché-exploding series captures coming of age as a Native kid like no TV show before it.

Our Blinding, Blaring World

By flooding the environment with light and sound, we're confounding the senses of countless animals. But we can still save the quiet and preserve the dark.

My Escape From the Taliban

When Kabul fell, my sister and I almost didn't get out.

The Case for Bodice Ripping

Romance novels have radical ambitions.

Heavenly Hackwork

John Donne was a mystic in bed and a mystic in the pulpit.

LET BROOKLYN BE LOUD

Why do rich people love quiet so much?

THAT'S IT. YOU'RE DEAD ΤΟ ΜΕ.

Suddenly everyone is "toxic."

The Book That Never Stops Changing

What I’ve learned about Dublin, and myself, in a lifetime of reading Ulysses

Why Is Dad So Mad?

A father dares to explore his rage.

We Have No Nuclear Strategy

The U.S. can't keep ignoring the threat these weapons pose.

A Mad Hunt for Civil War Treasure

Did the FBI steal the gold of dents run?

A White Author Fails Her Black Characters

Geraldine Brooks has sympathy for her protagonists. That’s not enough.

Beach Bummer

The world is burning. Have another piña colada.

Back to Chagos

Half a century ago, 2,000 people were forcibly removed from a remote string of islands in the middle of the indian ocean. This year, a group of them set sail for home.

Tracy Flick for Principal

Tom Perrotta's '90s antihero returns.

How Politics Poisoned the Church

The evangelical movement spent 40 years at war with secular America. Now it's at war with itself.

“They're not human beings”

Ukraine and the words that lead to mass murder

Can Forensic Science Be Trusted?

The story of a forensic analyst in Ohio, whose findings in multiple cases have been called into question, reveals the systemic flaws in American crime labs.

Blaming Our Inner Ape

Humans love to pin retrograde gender dynamics on our primate cousins. Is that fair?

Chasing Joan Didion

I visited the writer's California homes, from Berkeley to Malibu. What was looking for?