The New Yorker
Don’t Call It a Comeback
Eddie Palmieri is a living link between mambo and salsa, and he’s never been busier, Carina del Valle Schorske writes, in a profile of the eighty-seven-year-old pianist, bandleader, and Jazz Master.
Today’s Mix
Donald Trump’s Cabinet of Wonders
The President-elect’s nominations look like the most flagrant act of vindictive trolling since the rise of the Internet. But it is a trolling beyond mischief.
How Trump Gave Democrats the Working-Class Blues
Kamala Harris spoke of creating an “opportunity economy,” a vague idea more likely to appeal to entrepreneurs than to struggling workers.
Rafael Nadal’s Last Stand
Amid his impending retirement, the tennis champion leaves behind a legacy of courage.
Bearing Witness to American Exploits
Peter van Agtmael’s images of war and domestic strife are arresting and almost cinematically spare, but it is the careful narrative arc of his new book that deepens the viewer’s experience.
The Lede
A daily column on what you need to know.
What Russia and Ukraine Want from a Second Trump Presidency
The Trump Administration will likely take the lead in any negotiations to end the war—a development that Vladimir Putin would welcome.
A New Rallying Cry for the Irony-Poisoned Right
It took less than twenty-four hours after Trump’s reëlection for young men to take up a slogan that could define the coming era of gendered regression: “Your body, my choice.”
Republican Victory and the Ambience of Information
For years, Democrats have sought to win elections by micro-targeting communities with detailed facts. What if the secret is big, sloppy notions seeded nationwide?
The Election Was About the Issues After All
The fifteen-dollar minimum wage, a core progressive issue, won ballot measures in red states. Why have Democrats stopped pushing for it?
The Lizard King of Long Island
Jon Sperling secretly spread a non-native species across the Northeast. “It’s insane what this guy was doing,” a biologist said.
The Most Extreme Cabinet Ever
Trump’s “God-tier level trolling” of America has already begun.
Trump’s Team
How R.F.K., Jr., Became Part of Trump World
Trump has selected the former Presidential candidate, who has compared U.S. COVID protocols to Nazi fascism, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. In August, Clare Malone wrote about Kennedy’s troubled past and his shambolic campaign.
Matt Gaetz’s Chaos Agenda
An allegation of sex trafficking made Gaetz the most notorious member of Congress. Now Trump says he wants to make him the Attorney General. In February, Dexter Filkins reported on Gaetz’s rise to power.
How Elon Musk Rebranded Donald Trump
The President-elect has tapped Musk to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency. This week, Kyle Chayka wrote about Trump’s alliance with the tech billionaire and its far-reaching implications.
Pete Hegseth’s Path from Fox to the Pentagon
No decision more clearly reveals Trump’s disdain for his country’s armed forces than his selection of the TV host as his Secretary of Defense, Marc Fisher wrote this week.
Color Instinct
In a London warehouse pumping with dance music and movie soundtracks, Jadé Fadojutimi paints exuberant canvases all night long. “She dances in the process of painting,” a gallerist says. “She kind of boxes. It’s somewhere between a fight and a ballet.” The results are fetching millions of dollars.
Our Columnists
Documentaries of Dissent
“No Other Land” and “Union” are films that Hollywood and corporate America don’t want you to see.
Donald Trump’s Victory and the Politics of Inflation
Joe Biden’s strong record on jobs and Kamala Harris’s vow to reduce the cost of living couldn’t prevent the Democrats from succumbing to a global anti-incumbency wave.
The Cleveland Cavaliers Are Dialed In
The fun of watching this young, undefeated team lies in the sense of possibility they project.
Donald Trump, Reprised
Jia Tolentino on the gender war, Jelani Cobb on the elections of 2016 and 2024, George Saunders on understanding systemic rot, Rachel Maddow on crooks and thieves, Kelefa Sanneh on white-grievance politics, Timothy Snyder on how fascism takes hold, and more, in a series of essays on what Trump’s election reveals about America.
The Critics
“Say Nothing” Is a Gripping Drama of Political Disillusionment
The FX adaptation of Patrick Radden Keefe’s book captures both the allure of the I.R.A.’s cause and the way violence comes to weigh on its perpetrators.
The Gorgeous Mumbai Rhapsody of “All We Imagine as Light”
Payal Kapadia’s drama of women’s solidarity, a major prize-winner at Cannes, pays radiant homage to a city and its people.
“Here,” Then and Now
Richard McGuire’s project has a fixed view, but it spans several decades and mediums.
A Grandson’s Urgent Chronicle of Family Life in Small-Town Ohio
In Adali Schell’s “New Paris,” which documents his family in the aftermath of death and divorce, individuals are more complicated than the worst thing happening to them.
“Terrorists in Retirement” Brings Wartime Traumas Back to Life
With in-depth interviews and startling reënactments, the director Mosco Boucault details the anguish and the heroism of a mainly Jewish group of French Resistance fighters.
“Give Me Carmelita Tropicana!” and “Gatz” Beat On Against the Current
The playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and the performance artist Alina Troyano summon downtown’s wild spirit, and Elevator Repair Service revives its signature hit.
What We’re Reading This Week
A mock primer for understanding poetry; Haruki Murakami’s newest novel; a comprehensive history of NASA’s Challenger space shuttle; and more.
The New Pro-Life Playbook
For decades, members of the anti-abortion movement were oriented around the political and legal goal of overturning Roe v. Wade. In winning that war, they lost the culture. The next Trump Administration will be staffed with people who wish to get it back.
Goings On
Recommendations on what to read, eat, watch, listen to, and more.
Elegiac Photography and Opulent Advent Calendars
Hilton Als on the work of photographer Robert Frank, Rachel Syme on seasonal calendars with luxe appeal, Chief Keef's evolution, and more.
What to Read to Understand American Fracture
Annette Gordon-Reed recommends books that shed light on the precedents for our fractured political moment.
An Incurious Musical About a Trans Drug Lord
Richard Brody reviews the Netflix film “Emilia Pérez,” which never gets beyond its splashy surfaces.
Upstairs and Downstairs at Clemente Bar
Helen Rosner reviews the new lounge above Eleven Madison Park, which offers refined plant-based bites and beverages while leaving fine-dining social hierarchies intact.
The Americans Prepping for a Second Civil War
Many now believe that the U.S. could descend into political violence. Some are joining survivalist communities, canning food, and buying guns.
Ideas
The Artificial State
As American civic life has become increasingly shaped by algorithms, trust in government has plummeted. Is there any turning back?
Is the Twentieth-Century Novel a Genre?
An ambitious new book sees hidden currents linking writers as disparate as Colette, Thomas Mann, D. H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, Ralph Ellison, and Chinua Achebe.
What Do Animals Understand About Death?
The question isn’t whether other creatures share our concept of mortality; it’s whether any living being truly grasps what it means to die.
Silicon Valley, the New Lobbying Monster
From crypto to A.I., the tech sector is pouring millions into super PACS that intimidate politicians into supporting its agenda.
“I’m Not a Robot”
In this short film by Victoria Warmerdam, a series of failed CAPTCHA tests plunges a woman into a surreal identity crisis.
Puzzles & Games
Take a break and play.
In Case You Missed It
Fiction from the Archives
Alice Munro
Selected Stories
The Bear Came Over the Mountain
“He wanted never to be away from her. She had the spark of life.”Dimension
“None of the people she worked with knew what had happened. Or, if they did, they didn’t let on.”Passion
“In Maury’s car, or out on the grass under the stars, she was willing. And Maury was ready, but not willing.”The Albanian Virgin
“I had made a desperate change in my life, and in spite of the regrets I suffered every day, I was proud of that.”
Selected Stories
The Bear Came Over the Mountain
Dimension
Passion
The Albanian Virgin
The Talk of the Town
Daily Cartoon
