An Intoxicating 500-Yearold Mystery - The Voynich Manuscript has long baffled scholars-and attracted cranks and conspiracy theorists.

The Voynich Manuscript has long baffled scholars-and attracted cranks and conspiracy theorists. Now a prominent medievalist is taking a new approach to unlocking its secrets.

Pity the Bad Man

A bold new novel invites the reader to consider the plight of the bullies and the boors.

The Wild Adventures of Fanny Stevenson

Her surprising marriage to Robert Louis Stevenson changed literary history.

Does the World Need a Great American Biracial Novel?

The hero of Danzy Senna’ new satire is trying, and failing, to write one.

How Greed Got Good Again

In HBO's Industry, Gen Z reveals itself to be just as moneyobsessed as the corporate raiders of Wall Street.

My Mother the Revolutionary

She cared about saving the world more than she cared about me.

HOW M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD

The filmmaker weathered some of the wildest hype and harshest backlash that Hollywood has to offer. Then he found a different path.

SEVENTY MILES IN THE DARIÉN GAP

The impossible path to America

AMERICAN FURY

For years, experts have warned of a wave of political violence. We should prepare for things to get worse before they get better.

'LORD, HELP US MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN'

A close reading of Trump-rally prayers

Kafka's Not Supposed to Make Sense - Kafka died a century ago this year at the age of 40, and since then a mighty industry has arisen to deliver all of the messages that Kafka said would never be delivered.

It would be foolish to claim that Kafka learned his metaphysical wordplay from Jewish texts alone. He read widely: Gustave Flaubert, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. He admired the understated prose of Anton Chekhov and Heinrich von Kleist. He read literary magazines that published cutting-edge work, too. Still, his regular reading of the Bible—nightly, during some periods of his life—contributed a laconic quality to his classical prose that doesn’t make him anachronistic; it makes him original.

A Novel Without Characters

Rachel Cusk's lonely experiment: Parade. Her new book, a novel of elusive vignettes, it can be seen as an allegory about both fiction and the gendered shapes of selfhood.

THE GLACIER RESCUE PROJECT

Can the mighty Thwaites be stopped from tumbling into the sea?

The Industry That Ate America

The long and lurid history of lobbying

Tornado Watch

How Lee Isaac Chung reimagined Twister, one of the biggest climate-disaster thrillers of all time

Too Cute to Fail

Koalas are threatened by climate change, cars, and chlamydia. Can Australia find a way to protect its most beloved animal?

THE FIRST THREE MONTHS

What I saw inside the government’s response to COVID-19

THE VALLEY

Searching for the future in the most American city

THE AIRPORT-LOUNGE ARMS RACE

Inside the ever more extravagant competition to lure affluent travelers

Hypochondria Never Dies

The diagnosis is officially gone, but health anxiety is everywhere.

Miranda July's Weird Road Trip

The author's midlife-crisis novel is full of estrangement, eroticism, and whimsy.

The Wild Blood Dynasty

What a little-known family reveals about the nation's untamed spirit

The Engrossing Darkness of The Crow

Can a cult hit point the way forward for the beleaguered comic-book movie?

The Godfather of American Comedy

The funniest people on the planet think there's no funnier person than Albert Brooks.

The History My Family Left Behind

A gun, a lynching, and an exodus from Mississippi

Ozempic or Bust

America has been trying to address the obesity epidemic for four decades now. So far, each new \"solution\" has failed to live up to its early promise.

THE ART OF SURVIVAL

In living with cancer, Suleika Jaouad has learned to wrench meaning from our short time on Earth.

DEMOCRACY IS LOSING THE PROPAGANDA WAR

AUTOCRATS IN CHINA, RUSSIA, AND ELSEWHERE ARE NOW MAKING COMMON CAUSE WITH MAGA REPUBLICANS TO DISCREDIT LIBERALISM AND FREEDOM AROUND THE WORLD.

Before Facebook, There Was BlackPlanet

An alternative history of the social web

After the Miracle

Cystic fibrosis once guaranteed an early deathbut a medical breakthrough has given many patients a chance to live decades longer than expected. What do they do now?