The New Yorker
The Death of a Relic Hunter
Among Georgia’s Civil War enthusiasts, Bill Erquitt was an unforgettable character—a don of the field of relic hunting, according to a fellow-digger. After he died, his secrets came to light, Charles Bethea reports.
The Lede
Reporting and analysis on the affairs of the day.
Why Trump’s Trials Should Be on TV
The conduct of the trials, their fairness, and their possibly damning verdicts will be at the center of the 2024 election. Transparency is crucial.
Should People Have the Right to Say Awful Things Without Facing Legal Consequences?
Those who want to curtail freedom of speech do not log the debits and credits of censorship, nor do they care about the balance of norms.
Should U.S. Aid to Israel Be Contingent on Human Rights?
The head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says that humanitarian concerns should not hold up funding for Israel’s war effort.
Chaos in the Cradle of A.I.
The Sam Altman saga at OpenAI underscores an unsettling truth: nobody knows what A.I. safety really means.
The Violence of the Rams
I know you can’t hold animals to human standards. That said, rams are assholes.
How Louise Bonnet Learned to Stop Thinking
A conversation with the painter, who has a new show at Gagosian, about what it feels like to be a woman, the body as a site of complication, and how to banish one’s judgmental inner voice.
The Israel-Hamas War
One Family’s Perilous Escape from Gaza City
When Israel invaded Kamal Al-Mashharawi’s neighborhood, he crowded into a basement with his family. “The world is closing in on us,” he wrote on WhatsApp.
The Making of the World’s Go-To Hostage Negotiator
How Qatar became one of the world’s most prominent mediators of hostage situations.
The Trauma of Gaza’s Doctors
The head of mission for Doctors Without Borders in Palestine on the horrors of practicing medicine under siege.
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 Road to Dubai
The latest round of international climate negotiations is being held in a petrostate. What could go wrong?
Betye Saar Reassembles the Lives of Black Women
The artist restores depth and interiority to the caricatures of racism.
The Critics
Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon” Cannot Quite Vanquish Its Subject
Joaquin Phoenix summons a general prowling the battlements of his own brain, but is Napoleon’s life just too big for any one movie?
All the Newspapers’ Men
In Martin Baron’s “Collision of Power” and Adam Nagourney’s “The Times,” two well-known journalists turn their investigative power on their institutions—and themselves.
André 3000 Disrupts Our Sense of Time
André Benjamin’s début solo album of deeply soothing instrumental music asks for little beyond our attention.
The Artist Making Wellness Culture Look a Little Sick
In “Needy Machines,” Ilana Harris-Babou continues her study of self-improvement, taking on everything from luxury bathrooms to health-care documents.
Why Can’t We Quit “The Morning Show”?
Apple’s glossy experiment in prestige melodrama is utterly baffling—and must-watch TV.
“Hell’s Kitchen” Brings Alicia Keys’s Musical Power to the Public
The R. & B. titan shares a fictionalized version of her coming of age.
Piecing Together My Father’s Murder
I was too young to remember what happened to my dad, and no one explained it to me. So I tried to assemble the story myself.
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.
Ghost, Writer
Attempting to complete a beloved colleague’s work meant trying to see with her eyes and reckoning anew with her absence.
Dept. of Gastronomy
For a Hungry Book Critic, Every Word Is a Feast
In “The Upstairs Delicatessen,” the Times writer Dwight Garner masterfully melds the pleasures of reading and eating.
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.
You Can’t Get In: An Evening at Rao’s
A noble attempt to enter the famously exclusive Italian restaurant as a walk-in.
Frederick Wiseman Reveals the Mighty Substance of Culinary Luxury
The nonagenarian’s new film examines the social and aesthetic context of a world-famous three-star restaurant.
When I was alone in the house, I often opened the box to stare at the opal.Continue reading »
The Fall of My Teen-Age Self
This particular April, I’d sworn to my mother I wasn’t smoking. Therefore: stolen cigarettes. Therefore: windowsill.
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 Best Jokes of 2023
A Spice Girl fighting the class war, Kendall Roy making a last stand, and more of the year’s comic relief.