The System: Zak Cheney-Rice

White Houses Two visions of the suburbs are on the ballot. Both are myths.

The National Interest: Jonathan Chait

The Off-Ramp From Authoritarianism What an election can and can’t save.

Reopenings – Midtown As Microcosm

When it’s back, the city will be too.

When Nimby Met Maga

Liberals on the Upper West Side wanted to oust hundreds of homeless men from a local hotel. Then Tucker Carlson took up their cause.

Meanwhile, in Another World

How a Nicole Kidman–Hugh Grant drama series wound up becoming an inadvertent time capsule.

The National Interest: Good Genes

The president’s lifelong obsession with his superior DNA is put to the test.

The Writer's Room: I Couldn't Make This Stuff Up

The creator of ‘The Death of Stalin’ and ‘Veep’ on a week that surpassed satire.

Reality TV Glows Up

Docuseries are television’s latest prestige offering, but they’re not so different from their trashier predecessors.

Angry Bird

The story of John Brown, told with righteous fury.

Sohla El-Waylly, Food Wizard

After leaving Bon Appétit’s Test Kitchen, the chef now has her own show—where she’s paid fairly for her fantastic creations.

THE SWAMP: The Entire Presidency Is a Superspreading Event

Down in the polls, high on steroids, and clinging to good health while endangering everyone else’s.

THE CITY'S PERMANENT GOVERNMENT” HAS ALWAYS BUILT ITS WAY OUT OF CRISIS. BUT WHAT IF IT CAN'T?

The Panic Attack of the Power Brokers

Injured?

Bruised egos, gobs of money, and the bitter feud that took down CELLI NO & BARNES, New York’s absurdly ubiquitous accident law firm.

Rumaan Alam – Delusions of Whiteness

In Rumaan Alam’s new thriller, a white family staying at a Hamptons Airbnb is startled when the Black owners knock on the door.

Dispatches - Returning to Restaurants

Our critic, fresh off hiatus, surveys the state of his neighborhood.

Lock Him Up?

For the Republic to survive Trump’s presidency, he must be tried for his crimes. Even if that sparks a constitutional crisis of its own.

Buying Myself Back

When does a model own her own image?

Girl Power, Inc.

Disney’s live-action Mulan loses the songs but amps up the corporate nationalism.

166 minutes with… Ben Smith

Starting trouble with the New York Times media columnist.

Tomorrow: David Wallace-Wells

California Can’t Wait for a Green New Deal Slashing carbon won’t help for decades. It’s time to adapt.

The Science of Us : Stephen S. Hall

What If They Make a Vaccine and Nobody Takes It? There are already clear signs that the public is suspicious about corners being cut.

Desperate to Be Relevant

Antebellum is cinema’s latest failed attempt to speak to “the moment.” ANTEBELLUM is out September 18.

Hao Noodle's Zhu Rong on Reopening in China— and on Sixth Avenue

“I love New York, but it’s just a different situation.”

Yes, Fall It's Still Happening

THE CHANGE OF SEASONS during a pandemic can happen almost imperceptibly. Suddenly, summer has slipped through your fingers. Fall usually signals the start of a fresh cultural calendar, but this year, none of the clear markers are there. Broadway remains shut down; the pageantry of Oscar season isn’t quite the same when everything’s streaming; release dates are pitched further into the distance, pegged to the hope of some theoretical future. But amid uncertainty, great art can feel like a grounding force, and there’s plenty to challenge, entertain, and debate this fall. The final stretch of 2020 includes some of the most exceptional films, shows, and books of the year: weird clown comedy, the next Big Little Lies–style soap, and the kinds of novels that help you see the world more clearly. Mark your calendars—just maybe use a pencil.

The Very Suddenly Very Wide World of Masks

HOW OFTEN DOES IT HAPPEN that nearly every (rational) human in America simultaneously starts to wear an item few had worn before? In the span of less than a year, a sprawling multibillion-dollar fabric-face-mask industry has emerged; in the pages that follow, we make sense of it all—vetting more than 50 options, including the antimicrobial, the Rick Ross–approved, and a few not necessarily functional ones, like this invention from the L.A. denim brand 69.

The Eco–Yogi Slumlords of Brooklyn

How did a couple who BUILT AN EMPIRE of YOGA STUDIOS, VEGAN RESTAURANTS, and homes with LIVING WALLS” end up as PANDEMIC VILLAINS?

Mariah After Midnight

Thirty years into an epic career, Mariah Carey is still trying to explain herself.

The Culture Business: Mark Harris

The Expendables What if the movie studios decide they don’t need theaters after all?

THE LOST SEASON

Fashion’s leading designers spent the past half-year reconsidering everything from the relentless pace of consumerism to their own relationships with creativity. What do they have to show for it?

REMEMBRANCE Gail Sheehy

One of New York’s most daring writers never stopped reporting.