The New Yorker
Joyce Carol Oates’s Prolific Search for a Self
In more than a hundred works of fiction, Oates has investigated the question of personality—while doubting that she actually has one. Rachel Aviv reports on one of the world’s most celebrated writers, now in her ninth decade, who has written, “The persona is infinitely flexible because it has no center.”
The Lede
Reporting and analysis on the affairs of the day.
Biden and Xi’s Blunt Talk
Nobody should expect diplomacy between the U.S. and China to return to the performative, if misleading, good cheer of a generation ago.
The Michigan Sign-Stealing Story Is the Perfect College-Football Scandal
The whole thing is stupid, which is why it’s all such good news, even for Michigan.
The Left Comes for Biden on Israel
As the Israel-Hamas war divides the Democrats, what does it mean that young activists are protesting the President, not Xi Jinping or Donald Trump?
John Woo Returns to Hollywood
The Hong Kong filmmaker talks about his quest to make personal genre movies, his enduring faith in friendship, and his new, dialogue-free revenge drama, “Silent Night.”
The Israel-Hamas War
How Qatar Became the World’s Go-To Hostage Negotiator
The Gulf state is trying to help Hamas and Israel come to a deal. How did it become one of the world’s most prominent hostage-situation mediators?
The Trauma of Gaza’s Doctors
The head of mission for Doctors Without Borders in Palestine on the horrors of practicing medicine under siege.
How Gaza and the British Right Split London
Duelling Armistice Day protests, a country divided over Israel and Palestine, and the return of David Cameron.
The Use of Children, Hostages, and the Vulnerable in War
The war in Gaza has the feel of history sliding backward.
Escalating Violence Between Israel and Lebanon
There’s a sense of history repeating itself along the border, where tens of thousands have been displaced and the civilian death toll is climbing.
The Long Wait of the Hostages’ Families
The relatives of those held by Hamas “live with a timer now that’s always on.”
A Mother’s Grief in New Haven
Laquvia Jones lost both of her sons to shootings. Now she wonders why a city with a deep sense of community—and one of the wealthiest universities in the world—can’t figure out how to address gun violence.
Comment
Opinions, arguments, and reflections on the news.
Bravo in the Flesh
More than a hundred and sixty reality stars descended on Las Vegas, for BravoCon, where they were pulled apart by their harshest critics, who also happen to be their most diehard fans.
Dept. of Dolls
Why Are Millennials Still Attached to American Girl?
From the beginning, Pleasant Rowland’s invention wasn’t just a doll but a brand.
“A French Doll”
It was not a plaything, a toy baby doll that a child could dress and undress and pretend to scold in a grownup voice.
When Barbie Went to War with Bratz
How a legal battle over intellectual property exposed a cultural battle over sex, gender roles, and the workplace.
What if Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be?
As our faith in the future plummets and the present blends with the past, we doomscroll and catastrophize and feel certain that we’ve reached the point where history has fallen apart.
The Critics
“Saltburn” Is a “Brideshead” for the Incel Age
Emerald Fennell’s class satire is diabolically clever, but there is a void at its center.
PinkPantheress Is a Hopeless Romantic
On her new album, “Heaven Knows,” the songstress displays a yearning quality that’s surprisingly difficult to locate in today’s pop world.
The Morality of Having Kids in a Burning, Drowning World
The books “The Quickening” and “The Parenthood Dilemma” consider the ethics of procreation in the age of man-made climate change.
On “Higher,” Chris Stapleton Makes His Case for Love
The country star’s album is concerned almost exclusively with affairs of the heart—but his gritty voice never sounds sentimental.
“Maestro” Is a Leonard Bernstein Bio-Pic as Restless as Its Subject
Bradley Cooper stars in his own film about the conductor-composer, but it is Carey Mulligan, as Bernstein’s wife, who walks away with the movie.
A Search for Faith, in Three Plays
In “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea,” “Scene Partners,” and “Waiting for Godot,” characters skirt the fringes of belief and delusion.
A Food-Themed Holiday Gift Guide
Kitchen tools, culinary trinkets, tinned treats, dinner-party fixings, and many more curios for the person of appetites in your life.
Annals of Artificial Intelligence
The Godfather of A.I. Fears What He’s Built
Geoffrey Hinton has spent a lifetime teaching computers to learn. Now he worries that artificial brains are better than ours.
A Coder Considers the Waning Days of the Craft
Coding has always felt to me like an endlessly deep and rich domain. Now I find myself wanting to write a eulogy for it.
Does A.I. Lead Police to Ignore Contradictory Evidence?
Too often, a facial-recognition search represents virtually the entirety of a police investigation.
What the Doomsayers Get Wrong About Deepfakes
Experts have warned that realistic A.I.-generated videos might wreak havoc through deception. What’s happened is troubling in a different way.
“Parker”
A short film by Sharon Liese and Catherine Hoffman follows three close-knit generations through the process of changing their last name and unravelling family history.
The Revolutionary Printmaking of Kerry James Marshall
“It’s really about the exploration of forms and potentials—a process of figuring out what can be done,” the artist says.
Puzzles & Games
Take a break and play.
Name Drop: Make Me Laugh
Can you guess the identities of these nine comedy legends?
Listen to The New Yorker
The Kingpin Who Kidnapped Migrants for Ransom
Bayard Rustin Gets to Shine in Our Era
Can Happiness Be Taught?
A Trans Teen in an Anti-Trans State
When I was alone in the house, I often opened the box to stare at the opal.Continue reading »
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