CATEGORIES

The Playwright in the Age of AI

In his new play, McNeal, Ayad Akhtar confronts, and subverts, the idea that artificial intelligence threatens human ingenuity.

What Zoya Sees

Long a fearless critic of Israeli society, since October 7 Zoya Cherkassky-Nnadi has made wrenching portraits of her nation's sufferingand become a target of protest.

Scent of a Man

In a new memoir, Al Pacino promises to reveal the person behind the actor. But is he holding something back?

Last Rodeo for 'Yellowstone'

The hit TV series is set to conclude without main man Kevin Costner, but his onscreen son Luke Grimes is convinced viewers will be surprised and satisfied by the season finale

Is Forgiveness Possible?

Thirty years after the genocide in Rwanda

Malcolm Gladwell, Meet Mark Zuckerberg

The writer’ insistence on ignoring the web is an even bigger blind spot today than it was when The Tipping Point came out.

Alan Hollinghurst's Lost England

In his new novel, the present isnt much better than the past—and its a lot less sexy.

A Psychedelic Ban Would Disrupt Important Research

YOU HAVE PROBABLY never heard of 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine (DOI), much less worried about its possible abuse. Yet the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) wants to ban this synthetic psychedelic, a promising research chemical used in more than 900 published studies, by placing it in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), which defeated a previous DEA attempt to ban DOI in 2022, is determined to stop the agency's interference with science again.

Pearl Clutchers in Hot Spring County

IS THE FILM Night of the Living Dead too racy for daytime television? What about double entendres about \"spotted dick\" pudding? Or a travel documentary about Paris featuring burlesque dancers and a museum with nude paintings? These were just some of the federal obscenity complaints that made Hot Spring County, Arkansas, the most prudish place in America.

Abolish the Army

IMMEDIATE ATTACKS ON OUR SOVEREIGNTY WOULD COME NOT FROM LAND BUT FROM THE SEA.

Abolish Borders

LINES DRAWN BY GOVERNMENTS DON’T HAVE MORAL MAGIC.

There's More to the 'Motherhood Penalty'

IS MOTHERHOOD BAD for women's careers? Conventional wisdom says \"yes,\" but a new study suggests \"maybe not.\"

Abolish the Department of Transportation

IT DOESN'T EVEN BUILD THE ROADS. IT JUST INCREASES COSTS.

We Still Live in the Physical World

The digital world has not effaced our humanity, no matter what social critics like Christine Rosen say.

Blaming Bill Buckley

IT'S THE CLEANEST, neatnest [sic] operating piece of social machinery I've ever seen. It makes me envious.\" When Rexford Tugwell, an adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt, wrote these words in 1934, he was not referring to the New Deal programs in his purview.

Abolish ICC

THE AGENCY DISRUPTS COMMUNITIES AND FAMILIES, FOR NO GOOD.

Courts Are Coming for Digital Libraries

IN SEPTEMBER, A federal appeals court dealt a major blow to the Internet Archive-one of the largest online repositories of free books, media, and software-in a copyright case with significant implications for publishers, libraries, and readers.

Citizen Journalism Under Threat

CIVIL LIBERTIES

Censorship on Campus

LAST YEAR, STUDENT-LED protests over the Israel-Hamas war broke out at dozens of college campuses. With the new school year well underway, student demonstrations have begun again in earnest.

Q & A: Jane Coaston

JANE COASTON IS a contributing opinion writer at The New York Times who describes herself as having “libertarian tendencies.”

Abolish the Fed

IT MAY BE IMPOSSIBLE TO IMAGINE AMERICA WITHOUT THE FEDERAL RESERVE, BUT A CENTRAL BANK IS NOT ESSENTIAL TO A FUNCTIONING ECONOMY.

Abolish the FCC

LET THE INVISIBLE HAND REGULATE THE INVISIBLE RESOURCE.

The Backpage Trial Finally Ends-With a Suicide and a Sentencing

UNFAIR ALLEGATIONS OF SEX TRAFFICKING CHILLED FREE SPEECH ONLINE AND RUINED LIVES.

Abolish the National Park Service

PRIVATIZATION CAN MAKE AMERICA'S NATIONAL PARKS MORE ACCESSIBLE AND BETTER MAINTAINED.

Abolish the NSA and CIA

ENDING THESE UNACCOUNTABLE AGENCIES WOULD SAFEGUARD CIVIL LIBERTIES AND IMPROVE INTELLIGENCE GATHERING.

Modern Crafters Rediscover an Old Sweater

YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE been picking up fiber arts such as knitting in recent years, spurred by social media trends and pandemic-era boredom. Knitting forums now feature young crafters not just rediscovering traditional patterns but reinventing them for modern times.

What Is the 'Working Class'?

REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS alike want to be seen as champions of the working class-understandably so, since that cohort of Americans is understood as essential to winning several presidential swing states.

The nostalgic comforts of a goth-girl autumn

AUTUMN MAY BE THE MOST ATMOSPHERIC SEASON, tantalizing the senses with soft sweaters and warm beverages and the crunch of colorful leaves underfoot.

Sharing power is working in South Africa

SOUTH AFRICA HAS had a hard time of it lately.

THE HARRIS PLAN

WHAT KIND OF PRESIDENT WOULD SHE BE?