CATEGORIES

How Ice Went Rogue

A long-running inferiority complex, vast statutory power, a chilling new directive from the top—inside America’s unfolding immigration tragedy. 

May It Please the Court

In more than a decade as a trial lawyer, I’ve watched in frustration as male attorneys rely on a range of courtroom tactics that are off-limits to women. Judges and juries reward men for being domineering— and expect women to be deferential. This cultural bias runs deep and won’t be easily overcome. I have the trial transcripts to prove it.

Donald Trump Builds His Autocracy!

Will American democracy survive Trump? And will the midterms matter?

A Warning From Europe

Polarization. Conspiracy theories. Attacks on the free press. An obsession with loyalty. Recent events in the United States follow a pattern Europeans know all too well.

Losing The Democratic Habit

Americans once learned self-governance by practicing it constantlyin lodge halls, neighborhood associations, and labor unions. As participation in these institutions has dwindled, so has public faith in democracy. To restore it, we must return democratic practices to everyday life.

Adison Vs. The Mob

The founders designed a government that would be insulated from the heat of popular sentiment, but they didnt anticipate the unbridled passions of the digital age.Here show the constitutional order can survive.

Measles As Metaphor

What the disease’s return tells us about America’s ailing culture.

Carry Me Back

Race, history, and memories of a Virginia girlhood.

The Trouble With Dentistry

You likely don’t need to go to the dentist every six months. Those microcavities might heal without a filling. And you may want a second opinion before getting that root canal. An inquiry into a profession that’s much less scientific—and far more prone to gratuitous procedures—than you might think.

You Buy It, You Break It

How private equity is killing retail

Pop Culture's Failure To Rage

Why songs and TV shows are full of postelection angst about feeling impotent, complicit, despondent— and what a more constructive future of protest art might look like

The Lessons Of Henry Kissinger

The legendary and controversial statesman criticizes the Obama Doctrine, talks about the main challenges for the next president, and explains how to avoid war with China.

The Mystery of Why People Go Missing in Alaska

Two families, two bodies, and a wilderness of secrets.

The Secret Shame of Middle-Class Americans

Nearly half of Americans would have trouble finding $400 to pay for an emergency. I’m one of them.

Why Luck Matters More Than You Might Think

The luckiest people overlook their good fortune. This is bad news for us all.

Is Grit Overrated? The Downside of Persistence

The psychologist Angela Duckworth argues that dogged, single-minded persistence is a key to career success—but it carries downsides, too.

How to Reverse Citizens United

What campaign-finance reformers can learn from the NRA.

The Nancy Pelosi Problem

The first female speaker of the House has become the most effec tive congressional leader of modern times—and, not coincidentally, the most vilified.

Where Fantasy Meets Black Lives Matter

A much-anticipated young-adult debut taps into a tradition of speculative fiction rooted in African culture.

The Poet Laureate Of Englishness

Revisiting A. E. Housman in the age of Brexit

What Lies Beneath

Buried deep under an island in the Baltic, the world’s first permanent nuclear-waste repository is nearing completion. If all goes according to plan, future generations may not know it’s there.

The First White President

DONALD TRUMP’S PRESIDENCY IS PREDICATED NEARLY ENTIRELY ON THE NEGATION OF A BLACK PRESIDENT. AND THE CONSTITUENCIES HE HAS ACTIVATED ARE NOT GOING AWAY.  

Reality's End

The current era of “fake news” may soon seem quaint. Video manipulation is eroding society’s ability to agree on what’s true—or what’s even real.

The Plan to End Europe

Why does Donald Trump want to undo the post–World War II order?

Jet-Age Chic

Eero Saarinen’s soaring TWA terminal was an icon of mid-century cool. Now it’s being reincarnated as an airport hotel.

Apps for Refugees

How technology helps in a humanitarian crisis

How Late-Night Comedy Fueled the Rise of Trump

A MONTH AFTER the election, Trevor Noah, the host of The Daily Show, published an op-ed in The New York Times that sought to position himself and his show as instruments of healing in a broken land.

Mexico's Revenge

By antagonizing the U.S.’s neighbor to the south, Donald Trump has made the classic bully’s error: He has underestimated his victim. On issues ranging from counterterrorism to China, the Mexican response could be devastating.

Conservatism Without Bigotry

Republicans must reckon with their policies’ racial effects. That would be more likely if liberals stopped carelessly crying racist.

Can Unions Stop The Far Right?

If it weren’t for working-class voters, Germany’s recent election could have been a lot worse.