Articles from The Atlantic (625)
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The Coming Election Mayhem
Donald Trump’s plans to throw the 2026 midterms into chaos are already under way.
The ‘Easy Way’ to Crush the Mainstream Media
FCC chair Brendan Carr is on a crusade to Trumpify the airwaves.
SNL Has Its Black Mirror Moment
A memorable sketch tackled what happens when embracing AI ends up disappointing Grandma.
Abecedarian With Sensodyne
A poem
Tell Students the Truth About American History
We owe it to Americans of all ages to be honest about the country’s past, including its contradictions.
Pennies Are Trash Now
The government has no plan for America’s 300 billion pennies.
The End to the Government Shutdown
Panelists joined to discuss how moderate lawmakers brokered a deal with Senate Republicans.
Five Stories That Aren’t What They Seem
A reading list of twisted tales and unraveled mysteries
Why Can’t I Just Watch Sports on Television?
It shouldn’t be this hard to be a fan.
We’re Thinking About Young Adulthood All Wrong
Twenty-somethings aren’t delayed or doomed.
RFK Jr.’s Cheer Squad Is Getting Restless
My weekend with America’s biggest anti-vaxxers
Why Trump Gets Away With It
The institutional checks that got the country through Watergate are far weaker now.
The Nick Fuentes Spiral
The reckoning with the white-nationalist influencer’s rise is only getting messier.
America Is Taking the Train
Airport chaos is leading people to ride the Amtrak. Will they stick with it?
Michael Wolff’s Unsatisfying Explanation for Cozying Up to Epstein
The writer insists that it’s normal to “ingratiate” oneself with sources—even if that means serving as a de facto media adviser to the late sexual predator.
Galaxy Brain: The Internet Is a Misery Machine
Hank Green on outrage, creativity, and what, exactly, went wrong with the internet.
A Great Author’s Ongoing Struggle
Vladimir Nabokov’s leap away from Russian, his native language, was not an instantaneous, effortless transformation.
Photos of the Week: Dachshund Day, Flying Fish, Wānaka Tree
Holiday light shows across Europe, smog-filled skies in India, fall colors in Turkey, an appearance by Father Christmas in Germany, and much more
The President Who Cried Hoax
Republicans went after Epstein only when it was politically useful.
Sympathy for a Handsome Devil
Noah Baumbach’s new film, Jay Kelly, takes a gamble with its fantastically successful protagonist.
Something Feels Different About the Economy
Human brains were not meant to think about trillions of dollars.
Four Simple Questions for Marjorie Taylor Greene
A few recent breaks with her party do not negate a lifetime of conspiracies.
The Dumb Truth at the Heart of the Epstein Scandal
When QAnon meets Veep
Epstein Returns at the Worst Time for Trump
The president is desperate to make the questions go away, but there is no sign they will.
20 U.S. Boat Strikes in Three Months
The Trump administration is trying to treat its extrajudicial killings at sea as routine, even as more concerns emerge from the people who know the most about them.
Doomscrolling in the 1850s
The Atlantic was born in an era of information overload.
What Reconstructing Gaza Really Means
Making this cease-fire a lasting peace will require both Palestinians and Israelis to look inward as well as across the border.
Why Hotel-Room Cancellations Disappeared
The age of travel flexibility is over.
What If AI Is a Bubble?
America’s economic fate looks tied to AI—for better or worse.
The End of Naked Locker Rooms
What we lose when casual nudity disappears
The Criminal Enterprise Behind That Fake Toll Text
Beware the smishing triad.
Inside the Sandwich Guy’s Jury Deliberations
Can a flung sandwich cause bodily harm?
MAGA Has Repulsed Young Women
Sarah Longwell on the growing voting divide between the sexes, the 2025 elections, and how Donald Trump remade electoral politics. Plus: David Frum discusses the deal to end the government...
Donald Trump Is a Lamer Duck Than Ever
Even though he doesn’t want you to think so
Well, That’s Definitely Frankenstein
Guillermo del Toro’s new adaptation is a feat of design but not of story.
The Accidental Trailblazers of a New Global Condition
A new book about Chernobyl’s child victims shows the human cost of seeking technological dominance.
Who Would Want to Kill 314 Ostriches?
How the plight of a few hundred birds in Canada became an all-out fight for freedom
The Moral Cost of the Democrats’ Shutdown Strategy
A party that champions government workers and the poor was willing to sacrifice them.
The President’s Most Annoying Buddy
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick remains in his position, despite a series of blunders.
The Coolest Girl on Earth Seeks God
Rosalía’s new album mirrors the modern quest for salvation, in all its thrilling and frustrating contours.
Why the Democrats Finally Folded
This is how the government shutdown was always going to end.
The New Brutality of OpenAI
The company is pursuing aggressive legal tactics against its opponents.
Do You Want the House Tour?
On MTV Cribs, celebrities packaged and sold their wealthy lifestyles to the world.
The Costs of Instant Translation
AI might soon rob us of the thrill and challenge of cross-cultural conversation.
Why They Mask
Veteran ICE officers know face coverings are a bad look. But they’re not coming off anytime soon.
What Climate Change Will Do to America by Mid-Century
Many places may become uninhabitable. Many people may be on their own.
Senate Democrats Just Made a Huge Mistake
The shutdown was hurting Trump. Ending it helps him.
Pay Attention to the First 10 Minutes of SNL
James Austin Johnson's catchall monologues have become an ideal format for the recent onslaught of political news.
Edward Burtynsky’s Warning
What the photographer found in a tire pile in Modesto, California, and on the shores of Western Australia
Why I Am Leaving the Federal Bench
A judge explains his reasons for resigning.
The Ideal That Underlies the Declaration of Independence
Restoring stability to American politics will require reviving an age-old concept: common ground.
The Deportees Whose Stories We’ll Never Know
Amid the president’s fast-moving deportation campaign, the stories of most people being swept up are missed.
Blaming Foreigners for American Failings Won’t Fix Them
Railing against Ukraine, Israel, and other outsiders is easy. Solving problems at home is not.
What I Learned About Dick Cheney
The former vice president was certain he knew better than the citizens he served what was good for them.
The Limits of the Democrats’ Big Tent
A convention shows that it’s more medium size.
How Lawmakers Are Responding to the Shutdown
Meanwhile, panelists discuss what Tuesday’s election results mean for Democrats.
When Scarcity Blurs the Line Between Right and Wrong
Megha Majumdar’s second novel imagines how climate disaster might scramble our sense of morality.
All’s Fair Is an Atrocity
Ryan Murphy’s new series is essentially the world inside your phone, made into a TV show.
The Mafia Style in American Politics
Trump is saying, essentially, If you don’t want to get hurt, you’ll do what I say.
Tulsi Gabbard’s Quest to Bring the ‘Deep State’ Under Her Control
A memo circulating within the federal government lays out her office’s reasoning for wanting to transfer counterintelligence work away from the FBI.
Democrats, Mamdani Doesn’t Point the Way Forward
He won by a modest margin in a deeply blue city not because of his radical commitments, but despite them.
The Most Useless Piece of Parenting Advice
The problem with telling moms “It takes a village”
Photos of the Week: Dinosaur Sweater, Miniature Park, Hippo Calf
The aftermath of Typhoon Kalmaegi in the Philippines, Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico, a penny-farthing race in Prague, a mayoral election in New York City, and much more
The One and Only Sammy
The astonishing, confounding career of Sammy Davis Jr.
The Coming Swell of Scientists Turned Politicians
Instead of trying to depoliticize science, they’re running for office.
A Conservative Case for Feminization
A new book argues that America would benefit if more men adopted the values of vulnerability and mutual care that are usually attributed to women.
Democrats Haven’t Solved Their Electoral Problem
Big off-year wins in New Jersey and Virginia get the party no closer to taking back the Senate or the White House.
Democrats Have a New Winning Formula
Each candidate arguably got more out of affordability than any other approach.
The Battle Iranian Women Are Winning
The mandatory veiling of women was once a pillar of the Islamic Republic. Now it’s almost gone.
Just When It Looked Like the Shutdown Might End
Election Day happened.
Trump’s Ozempic Deal Has a Major Flaw
Obesity drugs are still too expensive.
Dick Cheney Didn’t Care What You Thought
The former VP’s indifference to approval made him a boogeyman for the left and the right.
Parenting Is the Least of Her Worries
In Die My Love, a struggling new mom loves her child—but can’t stand anyone else.
What Worked for Zohran Mamdani
The mayor-elect of New York City won without cynical AI tricks.
Zohran Mamdani Is About to Confront Reality
The new mayor will face enormous challenges and needs to prove quickly that he is up for them.
Is Marjorie Taylor Greene Playing Three-Dimensional Chess?
The “Jewish space lasers” lady may be positioning herself to lead the MAGA movement.
America Is Great When America Is Good
Those who believe in liberty and dignity must never give in to the forces arrayed against the things we hold dearest.
American Suburbs Have a Financial Secret
Municipal bonds have become an unavoidable part of local governance—and their costs divide rich towns from poor ones.
Three Rules for a Lasting Happy Marriage
To keep the flame alive, put love at the center of your life.
The Catholic Church and the Trump Administration Are Not Getting Along
The religion’s call to radical love can’t countenance this much cruelty.
We Are Not One
A short story
The Missing Kayaker
What happened to Ryan Borgwardt?
Will 2026 Be a Fair Fight?
Democrats swept the 2025 elections. But Donald Trump is already laying the groundwork to subvert the next vote.
Inside Trump's Fight With Venezuela
The United States is amassing an armada in the Caribbean as Trump figures out his endgame with Maduro.
‘None of This Is Good For Republicans’
Gerrymandering efforts look different after Election Day.
Can Mamdani Pull Off a Child-Care Miracle?
The hurdles facing the incoming mayor’s proposal are as large as its potential rewards.
America on the Brink of War With Venezuela
Quico Toro on the Trump administration’s dangerous game of brinksmanship with Venezuela, and why a conflict in the Caribbean could be a disaster for everyone involved. Plus: Trump’s newest attempt...
Trump Is Right: Ditch the Filibuster
The tactic is a deformed anachronism. Its demise would benefit the whole country, and Democrats especially.
Why Is Colombia’s President Provoking Trump?
Gustavo Petro seems to think that he’s better off being the American president’s victim than his friend.
The Great Masculinization
America is rapidly becoming the manosphere, but, sure, let’s go after women.
Understanding the Celebrity Fashion Diaper
Bulky, adorned briefs have become a common sight on stages and red carpets.
The Age of Anti-Social Media Is Here
The social-media era is over. What’s coming will be much worse.
Will the Supreme Court Side With Trump—Or Itself?
The Roberts Court has tried to curb exactly the kind of power Trump is abusing in the tariff case.
New York’s Unlikeliest Mayor
Zohran Mamdani surprised everyone, including President Trump.
America’s Hunger Crisis Could Be What Ends the Shutdown
The shutdown just cost nearly 42 million Americans food assistance.
The Food-Stamp Crisis Could Last Months
America has a lifeline against hunger: ultra-processed foods.
Introducing: Galaxy Brain Podcast
The Atlantic is launching a new weekly show hosted by our staff writer Charlie Warzel, who is paying attention to where we pay attention.
Two Unlikely Biopics About Unlikable People
One of Hollywood’s most affable directors finds something to relate to in famously prickly artists.
Dear James: So Long, Farewell
A reader keeps having to leave unsupportive support groups. And James Parker says goodbye to his column.
There Was One Dick Cheney All Along
The end of the former vice president’s career reflected its beginnings.
Venezuela’s Grim Prospect
Why regime change is unlikely to bring a return to democracy
No Easy Fix for Easy A’s
Students and professors are in a drawn-out battle over grade inflation. It may never end.
The Man Who Rescued Faulkner
How the critic Malcolm Cowley made American literature into its own great tradition
The Inflammation Gap
Popular ideas about inflammation have lost touch with medical reality.
Yitzhak Rabin Knew What Netanyahu Doesn’t
Thirty years after Rabin’s assassination, Israel is ignoring the lessons of the most honest statesman I’ve ever known.
War Is Coming Back to Gaza
Until Hamas is disarmed, Gaza has no future.
The Nonprofit Feeding the Entire Internet to AI Companies
Common Crawl claims to provide a public benefit, but it lies to publishers about its activities.
America, the Juvenile
The Trump administration is a regime of troubled grade-schoolers.
The Ballroom Blitz Should Be a Bigger Scandal
It is appalling for a president to accept private donations to fund a pet project. Just ask the Clintons.
A Third Term Is a Legal Problem With a Political Solution
Republican leaders need to speak up now, loudly and clearly, against any schemes to put Donald Trump back into the White House yet again.
The Stubborn Myth of the Literary Genius
What two new books on the English Renaissance reveal about the appeal of speculative history
Enjoy CarPlay While You Still Can
The auto industry is at war with Apple.
The Lonely New Vices of American Life
Booze is down and weed is up, and that’s doing something to us as a country.
To Catch a Clueless Hubby
An SNL sketch pitched the next big true-crime hit: what happens when men are left to fend for themselves.
Carol Muske-Dukes: ‘Coyote’
A poem
The Best Postseason in Baseball History?
This year’s playoffs and World Series showed that the game can still deliver the unexpected.
What Mamdani Gets Right About Housing
The YIMBY case for rent control
The Helicopter Parent Goes to College
Hovering moms and dads used to keep tabs from a distance. Now they’re touching down.
Everyone Hates Groupthink. Experts Aren’t Sure It Exists.
Are we too quick to agree on the dangers of consensus?
Mounting Pressure to End the Shutdown
Many Americans may soon lose crucial federal assistance, leaving some lawmakers asking whether it’s time for Donald Trump to begin negotiating with Democrats.
The Next Era of the American University
Higher education can—and should—fight the Trump administration, but the age of lavish government support is coming to a close.
The Slow Death of Special Education
The government has abandoned its commitment to an equitable education for all children—if it ever had one.
White House Architecture Was an Honor System. Trump Noticed.
For 125 years, informal norms constrained what a president could do to one of the nation’s most famous landmarks.
Tucker Carlson Opens the Door for Nick Fuentes
The white-supremacist influencer is entering the MAGA mainstream.
The Alien Invaders Just Want to Chat
Bugonia is surprisingly subdued for a movie about a conspiracy theorist’s quest to save Earth.
How Trump Could End the Shutdown on His Own
Will he give a 19th-century law another look?
J. D. Vance Needs Better Answers to the Right’s Anti-Semites
Does he want them?
All Our Brilliant Friends
The explosion of novels about intense female friendships, in the Elena Ferrante mold, is changing the genre—and making it more fun.
The Price of Canned Food Is Creeping Up
Inflation and tariffs are hitting shelf-stable food just when the most vulnerable Americans need to stock up.
Israel’s Critics Have Canceled Themselves
Withholding submissions from The New York Times in order to promote your views is some odd logic.
Patti Smith’s Lifetime of Reinvention
Nearing 80, the punk poet reflects on the twists in her story that have surprised even her.
The Writer Who Wanted Everything
A new biography deconstructs some of the most persistent myths around Gertrude Stein’s legacy.
Don’t Blow This, Baseball
The thrilling World Series shows that baseball is truly back—just in time for its next crisis.
Photos of the Week: Pumpkin Patch, Witch Paddle, Giant Labubu
The aftermath of Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica, the festival of Chhath Puja in India, a bird-flu outbreak in Germany, armored battle re-creations in Moscow, and much more
Trump's Plan Is Now Out in the Open
It’s getting ever harder to avoid connecting the authoritarian dots.
Here’s How the AI Crash Happens
The U.S. is becoming an Nvidia-state.
The Validation Machines
Humanity thrives on friction—so why are the tools of the future built to make everything seem so easy?
The Real Worry About Trump’s Deals With China
Today he’s resolved little more than a crisis of his own making. What might he trade away later for such negligible gains?
Traditional Values Came for TV’s Weirdest Dating Show
A season with a notably old-fashioned streak ended in a breakdown of Love Is Blind’s premise.
What ’70s Horror Showed America
Films such as Rosemary’s Baby and The Shining made the terrors of domestic life all too literal.
Why You Should Keep an Open Mind on the Divine
There are more things in heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in a purely materialist philosophy.
Strike First, Explain Never
What is Trump up to with Venezuela?
Thomas McGuane Is the Last of His Kind
What will we lose when we lose the “literary outdoorsman”?
Top Trump Officials Are Moving Onto Military Bases
Stephen Miller, Marco Rubio, Kristi Noem, and others have taken over homes that until recently housed senior officers.
Why Journalism Needs Literature
Fiction returned me to the world.
Rahm Emanuel … For President?
He’d like you to keep an open mind.
Trump Is Very Confused About Nuclear Weapons
The president says he wants to resume nuclear testing but doesn’t seem to know why.
What the U.S. Can Learn From China’s Technological Success
America only hurts itself by discounting what China has done well.
A Writer Who Did What Hillbilly Elegy Wouldn’t
In her new book, Beth Macy returns to her Trump-voting hometown to find out how America got so divided.
Would U.S. Generals Obey Illegal Trump Orders?
Tom Nichols on Trump, the military, and what happens when loyalty replaces law. Plus: the Trump administration’s “politicized stupidity” and a discussion of Eugène Ionesco’s play Rhinoceros.
What’s the First Movie That Really Scared You?
The Atlantic’s staffers on the films that taught them how fear works
Trump Does Not Want this Obamacare Fight
But his generalized animosity for the opposing party has overwhelmed his instinct for political survival.
Winners of the 2025 Epson International Pano Awards
Some of the highest-scoring images from this year’s panoramic-photo competition
Headphones Changed Music Forever. Maybe We Should Change It Back.
Your favorite song or album shouldn’t be heard only in total isolation.
The Government Is Closed. The President Is MIA.
Trump has been busy with everything but the government shutdown.
The Year With Net-Zero Immigration
This year, for the first time in nearly a century, more foreign-born people will likely leave the United States than will enter.
The Problem With Lottery Housing
Liberal cities try to circumvent the market, but the ‘hidden market’ for affordable apartments is cruel in its own way.
What Elon Musk’s Version of Wikipedia Thinks About Hitler, Putin, and Apartheid
The next step in Musk’s propaganda machine
Welcome to Ozempic Hell
Somehow, it’s becoming even harder to get a GLP-1.
J. B. Pritzker Wishes for Precedented Times
Twenty-seven minutes with the latest governor Donald Trump wants arrested
The Most Extreme Year for Atlantic Hurricanes in Two Decades
The Atlantic basin hasn’t seen this many Category 5 storms since the year Katrina hit.
Canada Needs a New Bestie
Trump’s attacks on long-standing allies are changing the balance of global power.
New Mexico’s Free-Child-Care Gamble
The state has promised universal coverage. Can it deliver?
Dear James: I’m Tired of Being a Compulsive Liar
How to break the habit?
The Perks of Morbid Curiosity
Horror does more than just scare us for fun. It trains us for life.
Iraq’s Dangerous Deal With Iran
Iraq is oil-rich and buzzing with new construction—yet it still can’t get out from between the U.S. and Iran.
Trump Is Demolishing the Four Pillars That Won the Cold War
By rejecting the lessons of the previous century, the president has undermined America’s advantage over China and Russia.
President for Life
Donald Trump is trying to amass the powers of a king.
The U.S. Is on Track to Lose a War With China
Modern warfare is decided by production capacity and technological mastery, not by individual valor.
How the Collapse of USAID Set the U.S. Back in Gaza
Humanitarian aid is a key component of Trump’s peace deal. Securing it will depend on American involvement.
The Military’s Missile Defense System Cannot Be as Good as It Says
Kathryn Bigelow’s new movie, A House of Dynamite, is more accurate on this point than the Defense Department itself.
No One Actually Knows What a Moon Is
The universe has quasi-moons, mini-moons, and moonlets, but no official definition of what counts as a moon.
The California Election That Could Tip Congress
Democrats are embracing ruthlessness. Will voters go along?
The Innovation That’s Killing Restaurant Culture
Delivery has turned America into a nation of order-inners.
What Trump Could Learn From Ulysses S. Grant
The last American crisis over civilian-military relations ended with a general’s historic choice.
Photos: The Colors of October
Foliage, flight, and festivity around the Northern Hemisphere at the peak of autumn
The Pentagon’s Version of Regime Propaganda
The Trump administration is trying to muddle reality—and create apathy.
What Leni Riefenstahl’s Work Reveals About Fascism
The director’s collaborations with the Nazi government translated Hitler’s ideas to film, almost verbatim.
The Mysterious, Enchanting Qualities of Chocolate
Its flavor can transport you, maybe not always to faraway places but certainly out of reality.
The Next Golden Age of the Death Penalty Is Beginning
Trump and the Republican Party are bringing capital punishment back to the forefront of American criminal justice.
This Is Not the NBA Crime of the Century
The government is calling its illegal-gambling indictments a major case. It’s more like small potatoes.
The Loophole Making Sports Betting Legal Everywhere
Gamblers can use so-called prediction markets to wager on the outcome of sporting events in all 50 states.
No One Knows How to Pull Off the Gaza Peace Deal
Disarming Hamas may be a task that only the Israeli military can handle.
The Age of De-Skilling
Will AI stretch our minds—or stunt them?
Trump Demolishes the East Wing
Panelists discuss what authority the president may have to dismantle the historic White House.
My Quest to Find the East Wing Rubble
An entire part of the White House can’t just disappear.
The Pitfalls of Sleepmaxxing
Technology might help you sleep better, or go haywire.
AI Is Not Disrupting Hollywood—Yet
The tech is still too nascent to be a savvy investment or an existential threat, at least for now.
De-Prince Prince Andrew
Jeffrey Epstein wouldn’t have been friends with plain Andrew Windsor. So the correct punishment for the disgraced royal is obvious.
What Progressives Keep Getting Wrong
Graham Platner is the perfect embodiment of the left’s strategy for returning to power. This is a problem.
The U.S. Is Preparing for War in Venezuela
More U.S. military firepower is headed to the Caribbean as Trump escalates his anti-Maduro rhetoric.
The Shutdown Is a Knife at a Gunfight
The two sides may forge a deal, but what difference will it make to a president who doesn’t respect Congress at all?
Seven Books That Will Make You a Better Sports Fan
Digging into the transformative trends behind the games is a valuable pastime of its own.
Letters From John Updike
The novelist’s newly published correspondence is a reminder that no one writes alone.
Prop Bets Must Die
As long as one player can fix the outcome of a wager, the temptation will prove irresistible to some athletes.
Tortured to Death in Alabama
The state killed Anthony Boyd last night, and the process was anything but humane.
Why Guillermo del Toro Made Frankenstein
The director writes about feeling destined to adapt Mary Shelley’s classic.
How ‘Big Tent’ Are Democrats Willing to Go?
Many in the party say it needs a wider range of candidates to run. Does that include people with Nazi tattoos?
Photos of the Week: Miniature Beer, Foam Fight, Vortex Race
The Cow Race Grand Prix in Switzerland, Halloween preparations in Germany, observations of International Sloth Day in Panama City, a zombie walk in Mexico City, and much more
Why J. D. Vance Just Called an Israeli Parliament Vote ‘Stupid’ and an ‘Insult’
And why it matters for the future of U.S.-Israel relations
Bridesmaid Inflation
Why are we making those we love most suffer for our weddings?
The Louvre Heist Is Terrific
Here was a dreamy little crime in which no one really got hurt.
Springsteen’s Boldest Album Deserves a Bolder Movie
The new Boss biopic robs his music of its mythic American qualities.
Yes, Money Can Make You Happier
Only if you don’t care about money.
Jeremy Strong Knows His Process Sounds ‘Witchy’
The actor has spent years digging into intense characters—but he’s finally found some relief.
The Appeal of the Campus Right
It’s not about Donald Trump.
The Worst Art Thief in America
The Mastermind is far more successful as a character study than as a heist movie.
Trump’s Partisan Redistribution of Wealth
The president is using the shutdown to shake down blue states.
Why I Run
I took up the sport to be like my father. I kept going because he stopped.
China Gets Tough on Trump
Beijing explores the leverage it now has to work its geopolitical will.
Why I’m Not Freaking Out About My Students Using AI
Young people are reading less and relying on bots, but there are other ways to teach people how to think.
Philip Pullman’s Anti-Escapist Fantasy
In his fiction, the author of The Golden Compass tells us how to love this world. It isn’t easy.
You’re Getting ‘Screen Time’ Wrong
The first step to recovery is acceptance of this fact.
This Movie Makes Nuclear War Feel Disturbingly Possible
An interview with the A House of Dynamite screenwriter Noah Oppenheim and Tom Nichols
Jack Posobiec Is MAGA’s Most Important Influencer
Charlie Kirk’s death left a void on the right. Posobiec looks better positioned than anyone to fill it.
OpenAI Wants to Cure Cancer. So Why Did It Make a Web Browser?
The AI giant has lost its imagination.
The Triumphs and Tragedies of the American Revolution
Ken Burns joins David Frum to discuss how his new documentary captures both the triumphs and tragedies of the nation’s founding. Plus: Donald Trump’s TikTok giveaway and Benjamin Nathans’s To the...
Can Trump MAGA-Proof the Shutdown?
The administration has tried to hurt only “Democrat things.” It’s not that easy.
The U.S. Tactic That Russia Is Using to Hoard Power
As a Ukrainian, I’ve seen firsthand how Russia has learned to emulate American soft power for authoritarian ends.
Trump to DOJ: Pay Up
The goal is not just dictatorial power, but ostentatious performance.
Winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025
A collection of some of this year’s winning and honored images, selected from more than 60,000 entries
What an Iranian Filmmaker Learned In Prison
Jafar Panahi discusses his most daring work yet.
A Novel That Understands Where Romance Is Going
Claire-Louise Bennett’s new novel trades romantic fatalism for something odder and pricklier.
The Deepfake Presidency
Advances in artificial intelligence help Trump in his efforts to manufacture reality.
Pete Hegseth Is the Pentagon's Holy Warrior
Pete Hegseth is bringing his fundamentalist interpretation of Christianity into the Pentagon.
A Movie About Cancel Culture. Or Maybe Not.
After the Hunt reveals where its true interest lies—at the last moment.
A ‘Death Train’ Is Haunting South Florida
The Brightline has been hailed as the future of high-speed rail in the United States, but it has one big, unignorable problem.
My Car Is Becoming a Brick
EVs are poised to age like smartphones.
No Appointments, No Nurses, No Private Insurance Needed
Many health facilities try to avoid Medicaid. A Colorado clinic prefers it.
Dear James: My Stepson’s Biological Dad Is a Terrible Human
Should his mom and I tell him?
The Lights of Diwali 2025
During the five-day festival, celebrated by Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs around the world, lamps are lit to celebrate the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over...
It’s Not Enough to Read Orwell
A new film argues that, in an era of rising authoritarianism, audiences have become too numb to the speculative force of 1984.
The Parental-Happiness Fallacy
Where commentary on moms’ satisfaction goes wrong
A Cease-Fire Is a Moment to Count the Dead
Palestinians in Gaza know that they’ll never return to the life they once had.
If Trump Wants Peace, He’ll Need to Go to War With Israel’s Hard Right
Israel’s hard right isn’t giving up on settling Gaza. But the president can restrain it.
Steve Bannon and the Murderers and Hitmen Who Became His ‘Besties’
What the man who has Trump’s ear learned in prison
AI’s Invasive Species
The slop is winning.
A Third of ICE-Academy Recruits Are Failing Out
Push-ups, sit-ups, and a brisk jog pose a threat to Trump’s deportation campaign.
Why Trump Turned to the Sewer
The president’s disturbing, excremental propaganda campaign.
No Kings, Only Decent Americans
The protesters’ modesty and depth of feeling moved me.
The Problem With Minimizing Chicago Crime
“Around here, we got trauma coming out of the womb.”
Ozempic for All
Ensuring GLP-1s are covered by Medicaid in all states would save lives—and not be as costly as some people fear.
The Great Ghosting Paradox
Is there a social phenomenon that’s as infuriating—and as commonplace?
The Recapturing of America
A new history of the circumstances that led to the Great Depression sheds light on the systemic risks we face today.
Gamifying Hobbies Is Ruining Them
A new documentary about bird-watching understands how technology can corrupt our leisure activities.
The ‘Anti-Woke’ Tax That All Americans Are Paying
Better broke than woke, right?
A Truly Awesome Performance
Shohei Ohtani’s extraordinary game might be just what we all needed right now.
Who’s Afraid of a Bawdy Pop Star?
Sabrina Carpenter’s SNL appearance poked at critics of her winking pop persona.
Ukraine’s Underground Generation
Addressing the isolation of young people has become an urgent priority in eastern Ukraine.
Photos: More ‘No Kings’ Protests Across the U.S.
Organizers expected millions of Americans to attend rallies in cities and towns across America, protesting the policies and actions of President Trump and his administration.
The Death of a Black Messiah
The late D’Angelo joins the ranks of many Black artists who shined brightly but not for long.
Resistance Is Cringe
But it’s also effective.
Trump's Next Potential Deal: Ukraine.
The president has boasted that the Ukraine war would be easy to solve. It didn’t look that way today.
The Bolton Case Is Not Like the Others
Trump wanted these charges, but that doesn’t make them baseless.
The End of the Old Instagram
Efforts to make social media safe for teenagers are starting to get a little weird.
The Depth of MAGA’s Moral Collapse
How we got to “I love Hitler.”
Europe Is Answering Putin’s Challenge
Members of the NATO alliance are showing real grit—and, for now, the U.S. is with them.
The Cleaner Way to Get Ripped
The wellness movement has come for bodybuilding.
The NIMBY in Chief
Donald Trump is using the power of the White House to load public-works projects down with bureaucracy.
What Won’t Congress Let Trump Get Away With?
The president’s Caribbean boat strikes are setting a dangerous new precedent.
Photos of the Week: Cave Lights, Mountain Shepherd, Snowbirds Formation
Major storm damage in coastal Alaska, a scene from São Paulo Fashion Week, a 700-year-old mosque in Mali, a Radio City Rockettes rehearsal in Manhattan, and much more
The Future of Professional Criticism Looks Something Like This
Demand for cultural commentary is higher than it’s ever been—but now that commentary is coming from unconventional new sources.
Vance’s Telling Defense of a Racist Group Chat
How a trove of bigoted and violent texts among young Republicans indicates the future of the party.
Lost in AirPod Translation
Apple promises to put an AI interpreter in everyone’s ears. It couldn’t even help me order tamales.
The MAHA Democrat
Colorado Governor Jared Polis is walking a fine line with RFK Jr.
When Real Relationships Start to Look Parasocial
Changes in social media and private messaging are making communication feel like content to consume.
Harvard’s Public-Health School Is on Life Support
Its dean is stumbling through the political reality of the Trump administration.
The Conquest of Chicago
Can a deep-blue city fend off Trump’s ICE crackdown?
How to Get Through the Tough Times
To survive a slump in your marriage, career, or faith, don’t hide from the desolation. Learn from it.
Kathryn Bigelow’s Warning to America
The threat of apocalypse never ended. We just chose to forget about it.
If the Voting Rights Act Falls
The Supreme Court appears ready to hobble the landmark civil-rights law. What does that mean for Black voters, democracy, and control of Congress?
The Other Reason Americans Don’t Use Mass Transit
People will take buses and trains only if they feel safe while riding them.
ChatGPT Is a Fictional Character
What makes OpenAI’s chatbot so dangerous? It’s a character without an author.
How Many Comedians Does It Take to Change a Country?
What it’s like to watch Louis C.K. do stand-up in Saudi Arabia
The Last Days of the Pentagon Press Corps
I’ve been evicted from a building I’ve covered for 18 years. I’ll keep doing my job anyway.
People Are Using AI to Cheat in Job Interviews
Who can blame them?
Why Is Trump Making Excuses for Hamas?
The president seems undisturbed by the terrorist group’s murderous campaign against dissidents. In fact, he seems to admire it.
When Conservatism Meant Freedom
The biographer Charles Moore on Margaret Thatcher’s legacy, the soul of conservatism, and what today’s right has forgotten. Plus: David Frum on the current government shutdown and Stefan Zweig’s...
Photographing the Microscopic: Winners of Nikon Small World 2025
Some of the incredible winning and honored images from this year’s photomicrography competition, selected from nearly 2,000 entries. See if you can guess what each image is showing before reading...
A Surprisingly Endearing True-Crime Movie
Roofman stays grounded by highlighting life’s mundane thrills.
65 Essential Children’s Books
Illustrated titles that teach kids to love literature
The Logical End Point of Trump’s Higher-Education Agenda
A “compact” offered by the administration could devastate racial diversity at elite universities.
Don’t Blame the Democrats for Trump’s Revenge Tour
Defending Trump’s lawfare as just deserts misremembers what actually happened.
The Radical Empathy of a Low-Key Chat Show
Marc Maron’s podcast, which just wrapped its 16-year run, showed us what human connection could really look like.
A Warning for the Modern Striver
A new biography of Peter Matthiessen chronicles his many paradoxical attempts to escape who the world expected him to be.
Dear James: My Guy Friends Are Stuck in a Rut
For 10 years, I haven’t seen any of them change for the better.
The New Think Tank Infuriating Progressives
It thinks Democrats can take a lesson from Donald Trump.
Americans Are Getting Much Dumber
Declining standards and low expectations are destroying American education.
Coffee Is in Trouble
Prices were up even before the tariffs. Can Americans live without it?
The Lesson of 1929
Debt is the almost singular through line behind every major financial crisis.
Putin Is Not Winning
Underestimating the Russian leader is dangerous, but ascribing dark powers to him plays right into his hands.
America Needs a Mass Social Movement—Now
The country needs a mass social movement—now—to save itself from autocracy.
America Needs Patriotism
The experiment only works if people believe in it.
The Beacon of Democracy Goes Dark
For nearly 250 years, America promoted freedom and equality abroad, even when it failed to live up to those ideals itself. Not anymore.
You’re Fired. Just Kidding!
How much more whiplash can the CDC withstand?
A ‘Paradoxical Optimism’ Dawns in Israel and Gaza
One era ends, and another begins.
Stop Lowering the Flag
The symbol of public mourning loses its meaning when it’s used too much.
Avoiding Ultra-Processed Foods Is Completely Unrealistic
Especially if you have kids
Your Genes Are Simply Not Enough to Explain How Smart You Are
Seven years ago, I took a bet with Charles Murray about whether we’d basically understand the genetics of intelligence by now.
The Other True Crimes
Before they become violent, many perpetrators are themselves victims.
Eight Romance Novels for Romance Skeptics
The genre is so diverse that with a little open-mindedness, everyone really can find their perfect match.
The Existential Heroism of the Israeli Hostages
The release of the remaining October 7 captives shows that hope can survive even in the darkest hole.
Diane Keaton: The Romantic
How Diane Keaton’s quest for beauty left an imprint on American culture
Amy Poehler Understood the Assignment
The actor was the perfect host for the actual 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live.
The Terrorist at the Synagogue
He told me, “I love death more than you love life.”
The Turning Point for Israel and Hamas
Panelists joined to discuss the likelihood that the historic agreement to end the war in Gaza holds, and more.
Russia’s Answer to WeChat
The Kremlin is pushing a new “super app” for Russian citizens. What could possibly go wrong?
The MAGA-fication of Sports Continues
Donald Trump’s partnership with the UFC takes his desire to identify with winners to snarling new heights.
The Cruel Calculus of Palestinian Grief
In times of mass atrocity, processing personal sorrow becomes more complicated.
‘It’s Never Been This Bad’
Immigrant advocates face escalating consequences and threats from the president.
Trump’s Dodgy Plan for TikTok
The details are murky, but it looks like the president is about to further enrich and empower his friends.
How Trump Pushed Israel and Hamas to Yes
The president’s unconventional efforts have paid off in the Middle East, at least for now.
Why Democrats Think They’re Winning the Shutdown Fight
They’ve clearly succeeded in elevating the issue of health care.
The Movie That Doesn’t Belong in the Real World
The new Tron sequel steps outside of cyberspace but won’t leave the sci-fi nonsense behind.
It’s All Catching Up to Tesla
Elon Musk’s embrace of Donald Trump continues to haunt his car company.
Buy This Album. Now Buy It in Green.
Here’s how Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl just shattered sales records.
How Are We Still Fighting About Obamacare?
The ACA worked, but nobody seems to know it.
Trump’s Revenge Tour
The president is getting the indictments he wants, but the next phase will be much harder.
Trump’s Great Achievement
If the president succeeds in ending the Gaza war, he will deserve a gala night in Oslo.
Photos of the Week: Horn Cupping, Target Practice, Pumpkin Forest
Busy tourists during a long holiday across China, night surfing at a wave pool in Germany, reactions to a cease-fire deal in Gaza and Israel, the last day of Oktoberfest in Germany, and much more
Why María Machado Deserved the Nobel Peace Prize
The Venezuelan opposition leader shows why participation matters.
The National Guard Deployments Are Very, Very Expensive
If the Trump administration wants to reduce crime, it picked an inefficient way to do it.
America’s Most Famous Nap
How “Rip Van Winkle” became our founding folktale
Just How Real Should Colonial Williamsburg Be?
Telling the full story of the town’s past is an easy way to make a lot of people mad.
What the Founders Would Say Now
They might be surprised that the republic exists at all.
The Many Lives of Eliza Schuyler
She lived for 97 years. Only 24 of them were with Alexander Hamilton.
Lincoln’s Revolution
How he used America’s past to rescue its future
L.A. Might Finally Know Who Started the Palisades Fire
But it still doesn’t feel like closure.
The Political Power of Timeless Art
László Krasznahorkai is unusually experimental for a Nobel Prize winner, but in an unstable world, his selection feels perfectly timely.
The Director Who Fell in Love With Losers
Benny Safdie has built a career by capturing men on the downswing.
The Boat Strikes Are Just the Beginning
What the Trump administration is portraying as a drug mission may be about a lot more.
What Is WhiteHouse.gov Becoming?
The confusing, creepy new Trumpian visual style
Trump’s Nobel Thirst Is Actually Great for the World
The president’s ego inspires plenty of bad choices, but his desire for a Peace Prize is proving useful.
An Emersonian Guide to Ridding Yourself of Collective Illusions
Going along with an untruth for fear of disagreeing with others is a form of self-betrayal that will make you miserable.
There Is Life After the iPhone
Can the generation most addicted to the smartphone give it up?
Saudi Arabia Gets the Last Laugh
The Riyadh Comedy Festival is just one part of a much bigger plan.
Secrets of a Radical Duke
How a lost copy of the Declaration of Independence unlocked a historical mystery
The Moral Foundation of America
The idea that everyone has intrinsic rights to life and liberty was a radical break with millennia of human history. It’s worth preserving.
The Nightmare of Despotism
Hamilton feared the mob. Jefferson warned against unchecked elites. But both thought that the republic could fall.
We Hold These Turkeys to Be Delicious
What the Founding Fathers ate—and drank—on July 4, 1777
Whose Independence?
The question of what Jefferson meant by “all men” has defined American law and politics for too long.
The 27th Grievance
How Native nations shaped the Revolution
Trump’s Plan to Finally End the Gaza War
How far is the president willing to go to achieve his promised peace in the Middle East?
Retribution Is Here
The president’s threats of revenge are no longer bluster.
Americans Are About to Feel the Government Shutdown
Airport delays and IRS closures are just the beginning.
Bari Weiss Still Thinks It’s 2020
She co-founded The Free Press as a bastion of liberalism in an illiberal time. Her arrival at CBS is paved with excuses for illiberal friends.
Bring Back High-Stakes School Testing
Former Education Secretary Margaret Spellings on testing, accountability, and how to reverse the decade-long decline in U.S. student achievement. Plus: David Frum on Donald Trump’s cult of sycophancy.
Pam Bondi, Loyal Servant
At a congressional oversight hearing yesterday, the attorney general followed her north star: pleasing the president.
What Not to Fix About Baseball
In a new book, the sportswriter Jane Leavy spitballs with some of the greats about how to make the American pastime more appealing.
The Worst Way to Cut Government Spending
The Trump administration is culling the best and brightest from the federal workforce for a rounding error’s worth in savings.
The Black Loyalists
Thousands of African Americans fought for the British—then fled the United States to avoid a return to enslavement.
Into the Breeches
What it takes to be a Revolutionary War reenactor
The Myth of Mad King George
He was denounced by rebel propagandists as a tyrant and remembered by Americans as a reactionary dolt. Who was he really?
How the Revolution Tore Apart the Franklin Family
William Franklin remained loyal to the Crown. Benjamin, his father, never forgave him for it.
No One Gave a Speech Like Patrick Henry
How he roused a nation to war
The Geological Origins of the American Revolution
The geological origins of the American Revolution
The American Experiment
At 250, the Revolution’s goals remain noble and indispensable.
Behind The Atlantic’s November 2025 Issue Cover
Capturing the Revolutionary Era in its complexity, contradictions, and ingenuity. Plus: A guide to the figures.
How Do You Film the Revolution?
What we learned making a documentary about a war so distant in time
Don’t Bet Against Bari Weiss
The new editor in chief of CBS News triumphs over her critics.
Trump Is Destroying One of America’s Oldest Traditions
America has always had a strong aversion to seeing the military on the country’s streets. That is not stopping the current president.
Dear James: I’m Tired of People Invoking God
Does this make me a bad person?
Something Weird Is Happening With Halloween Chocolate
Where did it all go?
Selections From the 2025 Audubon Photography Awards Top 100
Contest organizers from this year’s Audubon Photography Awards shared some of their Top 100 selections—featuring a ringed kingfisher, a yellow-eared parrot, whooper swans, and more.
What Happened to My Hometown?
The fraying of my family and the Ohio we once knew
How Ukraine Turned the Tables on Russia
Russia assumed time was on its side, but a new Ukrainian strategy is yielding surprising results.
Are You a ‘Heritage American’?
Why some on the right want to know if your ancestors were here during the Civil War
Anything Could Happen in Iran
At most, Iran can hope to wound America or Israel when attacked. But its own weapons can never win a war.
Anti-Semitism Is Poison for the Palestinian Cause
No good will come to the pro-Palestinian movement from any association with violent attacks.
A WNBA Star Goes Scorched-Earth
With the league more popular than ever, players know their worth—and they aren’t afraid to let leadership know it.
A Walk With New York’s Most Hated Tech Founder
Avi Schiffman says he’s enjoying the angry reaction to the Friend AI pendant. Is he serious?
The Supreme Court Is Giving Liberals an Opportunity
Religious accommodations are good for liberalism.
As Money Rushed In, ICE’s Rapid Expansion Stalled Out
Immigration arrests have declined and jail overcrowding is worse despite billions in new funds.
Stephen Miller Lays Out the Plan in Public
The White House aide equates opposition to Trump’s agenda with terrorism—and pushes for the use of state power to suppress it.
The Writing-Advice Book That Teaches Us How to Read
In a world of dwindling reviews, the author Lydia Davis’s new work charts a more serendipitous path to reading.
The Case for Paying Grandparents
In other parts of the world, their caregiving for grandchildren is compensated—and the benefits ripple through society.
The Everything Recession
First Washington, then the nation?
How Far Does Trump’s Immunity Go?
The Supreme Court’s 2024 decision threatens the system of international justice.
Democrats Still Have No Idea What Went Wrong
The party’s progressives seem to think the problem is not with their platform but with voters.
Trump Is Successfully Bullying Netanyahu
The more the president puts the prime minister in his place, the more likely it is that the Gaza war will end.
SNL Is Reading the Room
The show opened its 51st season by making a case for its pop-culture savviness.
Romance Fiction’s Secret Weapon
Tight-knit but open-armed fans have made it an especially hot genre.
Why This Shutdown May Be Different
Panelists on Washington Week With The Atlantic joined to discuss the fight to fund the government.
A Deal That Would End Universities’ Independence
The free-speech provisions of the so-called compact are an exercise in contradiction.
The ‘Best’ Colleges Aren’t the Best Forever
Prestige isn’t permanent.
How Not to Get a Progressive Party off the Ground
The British left needs a strategy that can win elections instead of throwing them to the right.
Trump’s Purge of Terrorism Prosecutors
The politicization of the Justice Department is making Americans less safe.
Kash Patel’s Challenge Coin Is Perfect for Him
The FBI director has created a memento that symbolizes his unfitness.
Pediatricians Can’t Bear These Costs
The Trump administration’s crackdown is turning a difficult profession into an impossible one for some doctors.
Taylor Swift’s Burnout Era
The singer has everything she ever wanted—her new album suggests that it’s all sort of a drag.
Photos of the Week: Polar Bears, Sports Fans, Water Forest
A golfing cholita in Bolivia, a 90-minute “space out” competition in Japan, a torchlight procession in Spain, a wildfire in Namibia, soapbox racing in Colombia, and much more
My Life in Ambigrammia
The esoteric art form that revealed a new kind of beauty to me
The Reason Not to Boycott Israeli Films
Cinema is a vital source of artistic dissent in a country at war.
A Government Shutdown, Weaponized
The president is boasting about doing things to Democrats that are “bad for them and irreversible by them.”
The Next Industry to Bow to Trump
Pfizer is granting the president’s long-standing demands. Other drug companies could soon follow suit.
The Weird Portland Protest That Trump Wants to Crush
There’s more absurdity than menace on the city’s streets—at least for now.
There Is No Green Transition Without Consequences
A new book argues that simply replacing fossil-fuel extraction with critical-mineral mining is no way out of the climate crisis.
The Other Martyr Who Became a Cudgel
MAGA has found its George Floyd.
Jane Goodall’s Second-Greatest Talent
She knew how to wield her fame to protect the animals she loved.
The Ultimate Happiness Workout
Few things lift your mood more than going to the gym. Exercise your body, and your mind will thank you.
The Truth About Amelia Earhart
Conspiracy theories about her disappearance do a disservice to the pilot’s remarkable, flawed legacy.
When Adoption Promises Are Broken
Many birth mothers hope to maintain contact with their child. But their agreements with adoptive parents can be fragile.
Photos: The Colors of Fall
As the days grow shorter and the nights become a bit chillier, animals are migrating and leaves are changing colors. Gathered below are some colorful early-autumn images from across the northern...
What Fighting Can and Can’t Teach Us
A growing appreciation for hand-to-hand combat has permeated nearly all levels of American life. What does that mean?
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl
MAGA isn’t going to like this halftime show.
Move Fast and Break Nothing
Waymo’s robotaxis are probably safer than ChatGPT.
The Justice Department Won’t Break Easily
The president wants his enemies prosecuted. How far can he go?
YouTube Bends the Knee
Welcome to the era of Big-Tech capitulation.
The One Big Change SNL Is Making
The show’s newest cast members reflect the influence of comedy’s current breeding ground: the internet.
Bail Out Argentina
The Trump administration got this one right.
The Alien Intelligence in Your Pocket
Are you sure that chatbot isn’t alive?
The Rise of Technofascists
Sam Harris on Silicon Valley’s turn toward authoritarian politics and the collapse of the information commons. Plus: Donald Trump’s politicization of prosecutions and Robert Proctor’s The Nazi War...
Hamas’s Worst Option, Except for All the Others
The latest U.S.-Israeli peace proposal crosses several red lines for the Palestinian group. Here’s why it might sign on anyway.
How Democrats Backed Themselves Into a Shutdown
Democrats surrendered a spending fight in March—and it all but foretold the October shutdown.
Pete Hegseth Is Living the Dream
A man who retired as a major lectures hundreds of generals about the need to meet his standards.
Hundreds of Generals Try to Keep a Straight Face
The defense secretary gathered generals from around the globe to unveil new physical-fitness standards.
If the Urgent Trump-Hegseth Address to the Military Had Been an Email
THIS IS NOT SPAM.
Today’s Atlantic Trivia
Test your knowledge—and read our latest stories for a little extra help.
What’s Missing From Trump’s Gaza Peace Plan
Announcing a peace plan is the easy part. Executing it is much harder.
A Prophet’s Diagnosis
With violence and strife erupting all around us, can Russell Nelson’s message of hope, humility, and peace elevate us above that?
Dear James: I’ve Lost My Writerly Fire
How do you keep it burning week after week?
The Hard-Won Lessons of Lilith Fair
A new documentary about the ’90s women’s music festival emphasizes how rare its collective ethos feels today.
Winners of the Bird Photographer of the Year 2025
The winning entries in this year’s bird-photography contest were just revealed. Competition organizers were kind enough to share some of the winners and runners-up, selected from a field of more...
Moscow Can’t Stop the Music
The Kremlin is trying to suppress songs that defy Putin’s rule. It isn’t working.
It’s Not Just Netflix—It’s Your Entire Life
The streaming service is expanding beyond screens and into the real world. Will subscribers follow?
Trump’s Grand Plan for a Government Shutdown
The Trump administration might use a shutdown to finish the job that DOGE started.
The Judaism I Thought I Knew
“I’m just a cultural Jew,” I would tell people, knowing nothing about Jewish culture.
The Myth of the Campus Snowflake
The students I encounter as a university president aren’t afraid of free speech—quite the contrary.
The Real Reason to Recognize Palestine
Absolutists have attempted to kill the two-state solution for years. The international community just called their bluff.
Trump’s Campaign of Vengeance Is Already Backfiring
As the president knows too well, efforts to censor or convict foes can often make them more popular.
The Machines Finding Life That Humans Can’t See
A suite of technologies are helping taxonomists speed up species identification.
Fully MAGA-fied Christianity
Politics, especially culture-war politics, now provides many fundamentalists and evangelicals with a sense of community and a common enemy.
The Blue State That’s Now a Bellwether
New Jersey is no one’s idea of a swing state. Or is it?
Domenico Starnone: ‘Diseducators’
A short story
The Race to Save America’s Democracy
Trump’s administration may seem chaotic, but Americans should not take the integrity of next year’s elections for granted.
ChatGPT Resurrected My Dead Father
My own private Frankenstein
The Doomed Dream of an AI Matchmaker
No one really knows for sure what makes people fall in love.
Charlie Kirk and the ‘Third Great Awakening’
MAGA is embracing the language of a rising Christian movement.
Golf’s Very Loud Weekend
At the Ryder Cup, players battle the course—and unusually noisy crowds.
Why Is the Pentagon Afraid of the Press?
Pete Hegseth’s department is imposing restrictions that threaten to limit media scrutiny.
Finally, a New Idea in Rock and Roll
The band Geese is pushing the genre in new and electrifying directions.
The Classic Teen Novel I Still Haven’t Forgotten
My secret first encounter with Judy Blume’s Forever
How Charlie Kirk’s Death Will Change His Message
For a case study in how martyrdom can transform a firebrand, look to Malcolm X.
What Ever Happened to Getting to First Base?
Gen Z has abandoned the old dating script. In its place are more possibilities than young people sometimes know what to do with.
Patricia Lockwood’s Mind-Opening Experience of Long COVID
In her new novel, the author captures the strangeness of ordinary life for the chronically ill.
Testing Teachers for ‘Wokeness’
A vision of public schools by conservatives, for conservatives. The second episode in a two-part series.
The MAGA Media Takeover
Trump and his powerful friends are creating a dangerous moment for free speech.
Why Assassinations Shaped the 1960s and Haunt Us Again
Geoffrey Kabaservice on political violence and assassinations in the 1960s. Plus: Is Trump making a massive political miscalculation?
A Portrait of Southern Sexual Repression
In her debut novel, Addie E. Citchens creates a vibrant Mississippi town and a dire morality tale about the suppression of desire.
When Child Death Was Everywhere
RFK Jr.’s health policies stem from the idea that the past holds the secret to health and happiness.
Brendan Carr’s Half-Empty Threat
The FCC can do plenty of damage to free expression—even without revoking licenses.
Left-Wing Terrorism Is on the Rise
For the first time in more than 30 years, attacks by the far left outnumber those by the far right.
Stephen Miller’s Hypocrisy Is Right There in His Speech
In the White House adviser’s view, violent rhetoric is allowed only when he and Trump are the ones spewing it.
Chatbait Is Taking Over the Internet
How chatbots keep you talking
Trump Is Getting Closer to Having an ‘Infinite Money Pit’
If the president takes over the Federal Reserve, he will have extraordinary power to reward his friends and destroy his enemies.
Trump Might Be Losing His Race Against Time
The president is gambling that he can consolidate authority before the public turns too sharply against him.
The 14 Movies to Watch Out for This Fall
The most exciting films heading to theaters through the end of the year
AI’s Emerging Teen-Health Crisis
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman promises that parental controls and age verification are coming to ChatGPT—though the announcement is scant on specifics.
Proud Boy Enrique Tarrio: MAGA Has Figured Out How to ‘Play Dirty’
Inside the far-right network that is working to get people fired for what they say about Charlie Kirk
The Economy Is Turning Into a Black Box
Sophisticated private sources could provide a fuller picture of the state of the economy. But the government is not even trying to use them.
Grok’s Responses Are Only Getting More Bizarre
Elon Musk’s chatbot is a slow-motion train wreck.
Fifty Years After History’s Most Brutal Boxing Match
The Thrilla in Manila nearly killed Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.
Trump Has a Warning for Spencer Cox
Utah’s grieving governor opens up about his state, the country’s dangerous spiral, and a haunting conversation with the president.
Just How Bad Would an AI Bubble Be?
The entire U.S. economy is being propped up by the promise of productivity gains that seem very far from materializing.
America’s Perón
Decades of personalist rule turned Argentina into a global economic laughingstock. Donald Trump seems to have misunderstood the lesson.
The Anti-Trump Strategy That’s Actually Working
Lawsuits, lawsuits, and more lawsuits
Yes, Cash Transfers Work
Money alleviates poverty. It’s not complicated.
The Lisa Cook Case Could Be the Whole Ball Game
If the Supreme Court lets Trump replace Cook with a loyalist, he might soon achieve a full-blown takeover of the Federal Reserve.
How the Richest People in America Avoid Paying Taxes
A clever new paper puts concrete numbers to the taxes paid by members of the Forbes 400.
AI Is a Mass-Delusion Event
Three years in, one of AI’s enduring impacts is to make people feel like they’re losing it.
Why Housing Feels Hopeless
Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman on zoning, generational inequality, and how to fix the U.S. housing market. Plus: What Trump gets dangerously wrong about World War II.
Trump Is a Degrowther
What else do you call a strategy designed to raise prices and lower productivity?
So, About Those Big Trade Deals
If you read the fine print, the “concessions” from America’s trade partners don’t add up to much.
The Most Nihilistic Conflict on Earth
Sudan’s devastating civil war shows what will replace the liberal order: anarchy and greed.
Floodlines Part IX: Rebirth
A visit with Le-Ann Williams and her daughter, Destiny, 20 years after Hurricane Katrina
Why Do So Many People Think Trump Is Good?
The work of the moral philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre helps illuminate some central questions of our time.
What Trump Doesn’t Understand About Nuclear War
The contours of World War III are visible in numerous conflicts. The president of the United States is not ready.
Trump’s Third-Term Ambitions Are Very Revealing
The president sees the Constitution as an obstacle to be surmounted, not a repository of values that he must respect.
How to Age Up on a Warming Planet
Younger generations are having a hard time imagining their future.
The Bliss of a Quieter Ego
We live in a world of noisy narcissism, but you can escape the cacophony—and be happier.
America’s Future Is Hungary
MAGA conservatives love Viktor Orbán. But he’s left his country corrupt, stagnant, and impoverished.
The Great Resegregation
The Trump administration’s attacks on DEI are aimed at reversing the civil-rights movement.
Send a News Tip to The Atlantic
We want to hear from you. Here’s how to reach us.
Is Moderate Drinking Okay?
“Every drink takes five minutes off your life.” Maybe the thought scares you. Personally, I find comfort in it.
The Anti-Social Century
Americans are now spending more time alone than ever. It’s changing our personalities, our politics, and even our relationship to reality.
The ‘Anthropological Change’ Happening in Venezuela
Maduro is still in place, but a pro-democracy movement is transforming the beleaguered country.
How One Woman Became the Scapegoat for America’s Reading Crisis
Lucy Calkins was an education superstar. Now she’s cast as the reason a generation of students struggles to read. Can she reclaim her good name?
The Most Controversial Nobel Prize in Recent Memory
This year’s economics award reinforces a comforting but false story about democracy.
No One Knows How Big Pumpkins Can Get
A decade ago, the world’s heaviest pumpkin weighed 2,000 pounds. Now the 3,000-pound mark is within sight.
Donald Trump’s Fascist Romp
After the former president described American citizens as “the enemy within,” Glenn Youngkin reveals his own complicity.
The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books
To read a book in college, it helps to have read a book in high school.
An Intoxicating 500-Year-Old Mystery
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.
What Happens When You’ve Been on Ozempic for 20 Years?
The long-term effects of GLP-1 drugs are unknown.
Crying Myself to Sleep on the Biggest Cruise Ship Ever
Seven agonizing nights aboard the Icon of the Seas
The Fairy-Tale Promises of Montessori Parenting
No matter how hard you work to organize a playroom, you can’t eliminate chaos or uncertainty from the task of raising kids.
The Carry-On-Baggage Bubble Is About to Pop
Airplanes aren’t made for this much luggage.
Caffeine’s Dirty Little Secret
“How much is too much?” is an impossible question.
Why So Many Accidental Pregnancies Happen in Your 40s
Conceiving after 35 is next to impossible—right?
Your Sweaters Are Garbage
The quality of knitwear has cratered. Even expensive sweaters have lost their hefty, lush glory.
Images of the Mass Kidnapping of Israelis by Hamas
Human-rights groups are collecting evidence of war crimes by Hamas terrorists against Israeli civilians.
What Did People Do Before Smartphones?
No one can remember.
Dear Therapist: I’ve Been Dumped by My Friends
I thought our shared history would keep us close, but it hasn’t.
How Smart People Can Stop Being Miserable
Intelligence can make you happier, but only if you see it as more than a tool to get ahead.
Tattoos Do Odd Things to the Immune System
When you stick ink-filled needles into your skin, your body’s defenders respond accordingly. Scientists aren’t sure if that’s good or bad for you.
The Rogue Theory That Gravity Causes IBS
Our bodies are constantly coping with the force. What if that ability can somehow go haywire?
The Narcissism of the Angry Young Men
What to do about the deadly misfits among us? First, recognize the problem.
What the Longest Study on Human Happiness Found Is the Key to a Good Life
The Harvard Study of Adult Development has established a strong correlation between deep relationships and well-being. The question is, how does a person nurture those deep relationships?
What the Body Means to Say
The hope at the root of my self-destruction
A Poem by Adrienne Rich: 'Ideal Landscape'
Published in The Atlantic in 1953
A Poem by Helen Hunt Jackson: 'August'
A poem by Helen Hunt Jackson, published in The Atlantic in 1876
12 Books to Help You Love Reading Again
Focusing on anything, let alone a book, has been hard lately. These are the titles that reignited our love for literature.
You’re Not Allowed to Have the Best Sunscreens in the World
Newer, better UV-blocking agents have been in use in other countries for years. Why can’t we have them here?
Airlines’ Premium-Economy Trick
Carriers are banking on the psychological allure of marginal luxury.
A Poem by Mary Oliver: 'Lilies'
A poem by Mary Oliver, published in The Atlantic in 1988
A Neuroscientist Prepares for Death
Lessons my terminal cancer has taught me about the mind
Biden Won Big With a Bad Hand
Relative to its strength in Congress, the Biden administration has proved outstandingly successful.
How Do Democrats Recover From This?
Here are five ways in which they could salvage their election chances.
Trump’s Big Border Wall Is Now a Pile of Rusting Steel
Worth at least a quarter billion dollars, the steel bollards are a relic of the Trump era.
What Joe Manchin’s ‘No’ Means for Biden’s Agenda
Build Back Better looks dead. Can Democrats rebuild it?
Women and the Liberating Power of No
From Jane Austen to Rosa Parks, from Joan Didion to Stacey Abrams, saying no has been the key to female self-respect and political empowerment.
If Democrats Can Lose in Virginia, They Can Lose Almost Anywhere
Led by a candidate who neither repudiated nor embraced Trump, the GOP sweeps to victory.
What Becoming a Parent Really Does to Your Happiness
Research has found that having children is terrible for quality of life—but the truth about what parenthood means for happiness is a lot more complicated.
The Massive Progressive Dark-Money Group You’ve Never Heard Of
Over the past half decade, Democrats have quietly pulled ahead of Republicans in untraceable political spending. One group helped make it happen.
The Simplest Fix to America’s Rent Problem
The country’s voucher-focused help for American renters is mired in red tape, and many landlords opt out. Would cash work better?
Kyrsten Sinema Isn’t Hitting the Panic Button
The senator from Arizona doesn’t seem rattled by progressives’ threats to primary her—and it’s not clear she should be.
The New Question Haunting Adoption
At a glance, America’s shortage of adoptable babies may seem like a problem. But is adoption meant to provide babies for families, or families for babies?
The Hypocrisy of the Anti-vax Patriot
Stopping the spread of COVID-19 is a great way to help U.S. military families.
The Abortion Backup Plan No One Is Talking About
Even in states with the strictest abortion laws, pregnant people have a safe, inexpensive option to terminate their pregnancies. But few know about it.
The House of Representatives Is Failing American Democracy
By fleeing to the political extremes, a co-equal House of Congress is abdicating its lawmaking power.
Is There Another Reason Biden Likes Boosters?
Scientists can’t agree on the benefits of boosters for young people. But economically, psychologically, and politically, boosters can do a lot.
What We Lost When Gannett Came to Town
We don’t often talk about how a paper’s collapse makes people feel: less connected, more alone.
The Myth That Democracies Bungled the Pandemic
The argument that authoritarian governments outperform democracies in a crisis has found new life during the coronavirus pandemic. The data tell a different story.
The Conservatives Dreading—And Preparing for—Civil War
A faction of the right believes America has been riven into two countries. The Claremont Institute is building the intellectual architecture for whatever comes next.
Transforming America With a One-Vote Majority
Joe Biden’s economic plan is stalled in Congress because the warring wings of his party aren’t yet desperate enough to compromise. They could be soon.
The Rise and Fall of an American Tech Giant
Kodak changed the way Americans saw themselves and their country. But it struggled to reinvent itself for the digital age.
The Tyranny of the Female-Orgasm Industrial Complex
What one woman’s quest for sexual satisfaction reveals about desire, hysteria, feminism, and capitalism
Return the National Parks to the Tribes
The jewels of America’s landscape should belong to America’s original peoples.
The Other Tiger
A poem by Jorge Luis Borges, published in The Atlantic in 1967
Decades Ago, Romania Deprived Thousands of Babies of Human Contact
Here’s what’s become of them.
The World Dick Cheney Built
The vice president had spent most of his career trying to lift the restraints on presidential authority. After 9/11, he did just that.
What It Means to Name a Forgotten Murder Victim
Thirteen years ago, a young woman was found dead in small-town Texas. She was nicknamed “Lavender Doe” for the purple shirt she was wearing. Her real identity would remain a mystery until amateur...
Unfit for Office
Donald Trump’s narcissism makes it impossible for him to carry out the duties of the presidency in the way the Constitution requires.
Dear Therapist: I Divorced My Dying Wife Once She Was No Longer Lucid
After five years of being her caregiver, I couldn’t bear the emotional or financial costs alone any longer.
Your Professional Decline Is Coming (Much) Sooner Than You Think
Here’s how to make the most of it.
What Really Happened to Malaysia’s Missing Airplane
Five years ago, the flight vanished into the Indian Ocean. Officials on land know more about why than they dare to say.
Trick-or-Treating Isn’t What It Used to Be
Instead of going door-to-door on Halloween night, many parents are taking their kids elsewhere to get candy.
Raised by YouTube
The platform’s entertainment for children is weirder—and more globalized—than adults could have expected.
Why Does the School Day End Two Hours Before the Workday?
This mismatch creates a child-care crisis between 3 and 5 p.m. that has parents scrambling for options.
‘Find Your Passion’ Is Awful Advice
A major new study questions the common wisdom about how we should choose our careers.
The Next Plague Is Coming. Is America Ready?
The epidemics of the early 21st century revealed a world unprepared, even as the risks continue to multiply. Much worse is coming.
The Perfect Man Who Wasn’t
For years, he used fake identities to charm women out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then his victims banded together to take him down.
The Storyteller Who Offers No Escape
Hungary’s László Krasznahorkai writes fiction devoid of revelation, resolution, and even periods.
Why Happy People Cheat
A good marriage is no guarantee against infidelity.
My Family’s Slave
She lived with us for 56 years. She raised me and my siblings without pay. I was 11, a typical American kid, before I realized who she was.
Coincidences and the Meaning of Life
The surprising chances of our lives can seem like they’re hinting at hidden truths, but they’re really revealing the human mind at work.
The Curious Case of Jesus’s Wife
Lab tests have suggested that a papyrus scrap mentioning Jesus’s wife is authentic. Why do most scholars believe it’s fake?
The Case for Reparations
Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts,...
The Origins of Office Speak
What corporate buzzwords reveal about the history of work (and what a corporate-buzzword quiz reveals about you)
Big Government, Small Bellies: What Japan Can Teach Us About Fighting Fat
The Atlantic covers news, politics, culture, technology, health, and more, through its articles, podcasts, videos, and flagship magazine.
Why Women Still Can’t Have It All
It’s time to stop fooling ourselves, says a woman who left a position of power: the women who have managed to be both mothers and top professionals are superhuman, rich, or self-employed. If we...
The Unlearned Lesson of the Titanic
Since that fateful night of April 1912, what have we done in the way of reform that will go toward averting another such disaster?
Life on the Sea Islands (Part I)
A young black woman describes her experience teaching freed slaves during the Civil War.
Henry David Thoreau: Autumnal Tints
“A great many, who have spent their lives in cities, and have never chanced to come into the country at this season, have never seen this, the flower, or rather the ripe fruit, of the year.”
Is Google Making Us Stupid?
What the Internet is doing to our brains
How Do I Love Thee?
A growing number of Internet dating sites are relying on academic researchers to develop a new science of attraction. A firsthand report from the front lines of an unprecedented social experiment
Harvard and the Making of the Unabomber
A series of purposely brutalizing psychological experiments may have confirmed Theodore Kaczynski’s still-forming belief in the evil of science while he was in college.
The Great Climate Flip-Flop
“Climate change” is popularly understood to mean greenhouse warming, which, it is predicted, will cause flooding, severe windstorms, and killer heat waves. But warming could lead, paradoxically,...
Was Democracy Just a Moment?
The global triumph of democracy was to be the glorious climax of the American Century. But democracy may not be the system that will best serve the world—or even the one that will prevail in...
Why Americans Hate the Media
Why has the media establishment become so unpopular? Perhaps the public has good reason to think that the media’s self-aggrandizement gets in the way of solving the country’s real problems.
Reefer Madness
Marijuana has not been de facto legalized, and the war on drugs is not just about cocaine and heroin. In fact, today, when we don’t have enough jail cells for murderers, rapists, and other violent...
Waiting for the Weekend
A whole two days off from work, in which we can do what we please, has only recently become a near-universal right. What we choose to do looks increasingly like work, and idleness has acquired a...
Living With Fallout
An American abroad in Chernobyl’s aftermath confronts the half-life of truth
An Inquiry Into the Fundamentals of Pasta
An inquiry into a few fundamental questions: How did spaghetti and meatballs, a dish no Italian recognizes, become so popular here? What makes some brands of pasta much better than others? What’s...
The Prophet’s Hair
A short story
Soldiers of Misfortune
A report on the veterans of Vietnam—and on the often disgraceful treatment they have received from their countrymen.
Life on Mars
Space scientists won’t say so, but the results of three brilliantly conceived experiments lead inevitably to one startling conclusion: Life, in some form, exists on Mars.
Inside the Supreme Court
The momentous school desegregation decision
Reunion at Los Alamos
The nuclear age turns 30
The Double Helix
The discovery of the structure of DNA
Stokely Carmichael and Charles Hamilton: Dynamite
The tragedy of our exploding ghettos has historical roots in the false expectations of the Reconstruction era, and in the refusal of American citizens to sense the frustration and violence...
This Morning, This Evening, So Soon
A short story
Sex and the College Girl
“I think that the charge that men have become emasculated by the competence of women is both depressing and untrue.”
Speaking of Music
“Can anyone explain in mere prose the wonder of one note following or coinciding with another so that we feel that it is exactly how those notes had to be? Of course not.”
‘Yesterday Is Over’
The growing need for research workers and scientists has opened new doors for both single women and those combining marriage and a career.
Dred Scott — A Century After
“The Dred Scott case of 1857 is the most famous — or notorious — in all of our judicial history.”
High Hurdles and White Gloves
The first modern Olympic games took place in Athens sixty years ago in a stadium holding seventy-five thousand. The American hurdler Thomas P. Curtis won the Gold Medal in his event; he also found...
Rugby Is a Better Game
“American football is violent, expensive, and time-consuming; and the number of people who are able to play under these conditions is extremely limited. Rugby, on the other hand, is more rough...
The Open Mind
Four years after directing the construction of the world’s first atomic bomb, Oppenheimer offers advice on advancing peace in the nuclear age.
Death of a Pig
“I just wanted to keep on raising a pig, full meal after full meal, spring into summer into fall.”
The Prevention of Literature
“To write in plain, vigorous language one has to think fearlessly, and if one thinks fearlessly one cannot be politically orthodox.”
If the Atomic Bomb Had Not Been Used
Was Japan already beaten before the August 1945 bombings?
That Day at Hiroshima
“If there are such things as ghosts, why don’t they haunt the Americans?”
From the League to the UN
On the first anniversary of the Senate’s ratification of the United Nations Charter, it is time to consider whether the UN is a weaker instrument for peace than the League.
The Last Three Days of Mussolini
“Il Duce slumped, first falling to his knees, then leaning sideways against the wall.”
As We May Think
“Consider a future device ... in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It...
How Bad Is the Flu?
“The possibility of recurrent epidemics, perhaps of increasing virulence, even of another pandemic, must be faced.”
Why I Live at the P. O
A short story
Crisis
The Atlantic covers news, politics, culture, technology, health, and more, through its articles, podcasts, videos, and flagship magazine.
Love in America
“It is as if the experience of being in love could only be one of two things: a superhuman ecstasy, the way of reaching heaven on earth and in pairs; or a psychopathic condition to be treated by...
Rachel Carson: Undersea
“To sense this world of waters known to the creatures of the sea we must shed our human perceptions of length and breadth and time and place, and enter vicariously into a universe of all-pervading water.”
Letters From the Dust Bowl
When drought struck Oklahoma in the 1930s, the author and her husband stayed behind to protect their 28-year-old farm. Her letters to a friend paint a picture of dire poverty, desiccated soil, and...
‘A Penny’s Worth, Please’
“Once upon a time, a penny was money.”
Confessions of a Novelist
“I remember saying to myself, when the book was done: ‘I don’t yet know how to write a novel; but I know how to find out how to.’”
Three Days to See
“I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life.”
Helen Keller's Advice: Put Your Husband In the Kitchen
“I am tempted to think that the perplexed businessman might discover a possible solution of his troubles if he would just spend a few days in his wife’s kitchen.”
‘Ever Grateful for the Prize’
“Prize giving, if it does not degenerate into indecency, is a legitimate form of advertising.”
Jazz: A Musical Discussion
“As a state of mind, [it] is symptom, not malady.”
The Yosemite National Park
“All the world lies warm in one heart, yet the Sierra seems to get more light than other mountains.”
Strivings of the Negro People
“It dawned upon me with a certain suddenness that I was different from the others; or like, mayhap, in heart and life and longing, but shut out from their world by a vast veil.”
The Awakening of the Negro
“It is through the dairy farm, the truck garden, the trades, and commercial life, largely, that the negro is to find his way to the enjoyment of all his rights.”
The New Talking Machines
A noted architect and writer commends Thomas Edison for his progress in developing the phonograph and predicts great things for its future.
The History of Children’s Books
“There have been children’s stories and folk-tales ever since man first learned to speak. Children’s books, however, are a late growth of literature.”
The Portrait of a Lady
The opening scenes of Henry James’s classic novel
An Artist's Model
The Atlantic covers news, politics, culture, technology, health, and more, through its articles, podcasts, videos, and flagship magazine.
Modern Cats
“There is a prejudice against cats because dogs hate them. We defer overmuch to the opinion of the dog because he is ‘faithful.’”
The English Governess at the Siamese Court
The author recounts her adventures with the King of Siam.
An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage
“Statesmen, beware what you do. The destiny of unborn and unnumbered generations is in your hands.”
The Freedman’s Story
An escaped slave tells his story—including his account of his violent showdown with slave-catchers in Pennsylvania.
The Battle Hymn of the Republic
The lyrics to Julia Ward Howe’s patriotic classic premiered in the February 1862 issue of The Atlantic.
The Election in November
The Atlantic’s editor endorsed Abraham Lincoln for the presidency in the 1860 election, predicting that it would prove to be “a turning-point in our history.”
Where Will It End?
In its second issue, The Atlantic urged Northerners to take a stand against slavery.