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States of Play
With a lopsided conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, progressive activists are seeking legal opportunities on the state level. Can they preserve—and perhaps expand—constitutional rights? Eyal Press reports.
Above the Fold
Essential reading for today.
What Israel’s Leaders Can’t—or Won’t—Say About Biden’s Ceasefire Announcement
Netanyahu’s chief rival, Benny Gantz, has issued an ultimatum for the Prime Minister to come up with an exit strategy for the war. What options are available to him?
By Isaac Chotiner
Speech Under the Shadow of Punishment
For years, universities have been less inclined to protect speech and quicker to sanction it. After this spring’s protests, it will be difficult to turn back.
By Jeannie Suk Gersen
What Doge Taught Me About the Internet
The death of the Shiba Inu behind one of the silliest memes of the twenty-tens is a reminder of how much digital culture has changed.
By Kyle Chayka
The Delicate Art of Turning Your Parents Into Content
Gen Z creators are learning the lessons of Scorsese and Akerman: putting mom and dad in your work brings pathos, complexity, and a certain frisson.
By Jessica Winter
Profiles
A Surf Legend’s Long Ride
For Jock Sutherland, being hailed as the world’s best surfer was just one phase in an unlikely life.
By William Finnegan
Annals of Inquiry
Are We Doomed?
Climate change, artificial intelligence, nuclear annihilation, biological warfare—the field of existential risk is a way to reason through the dizzying, terrifying headlines. Students in a course at the University of Chicago sorted through the future that they will inherit.
By Rivka Galchen
The Political Scene
Donald Trump Is Guilty, but Voters Will Be the Final Judge
The jury has convicted the former President of thirty-four felony counts in his New York hush-money trial. Now the American people will decide to what extent they care.
By David Remnick
The Shadow of Tiananmen Falls on Hong Kong
The anniversary of the massacre coincides with verdicts in the trial of the pro-democracy activists known as the Hong Kong 47.
By Evan Osnos
When the Verdict Came In, Trump’s Eyes Were Wide Open
In the courtroom with the ex-President at the moment he became a convicted felon.
By Eric Lach
The Texas School District That Provided the Blueprint for an Attack on Public Education
When conservative activists began waging battle against diversity plans, some had a much bigger target in mind.
By Jessica Winter
A Reporter at Large
Will Mexico Decide the U.S. Election?
Top officials from the two countries are wrangling over immigration policy. What they resolve will have huge implications on both sides of the border.
By Stephania Taladrid
The Critics
The Current Cinema
The Sexy Mind Games of “Hit Man”
In Richard Linklater’s romantic crime comedy, an undercover operative transforms his love life by means of professional deceptions.
By Richard Brody
Infinite Scroll
The New Generation of Online Culture Curators
In a digital landscape overrun by algorithms and A.I., we need human guides to help us decide what’s worth paying attention to.
By Kyle Chayka
The Art World
Jenny Holzer Has the Last Word, at the Guggenheim
In the exhibition “Light Line,” the best work is made of phrases on an L.E.D. spiral, which add up to a single epic poem that is a gift to art history.
By Jackson Arn
The Current Cinema
All the Films in Competition at Cannes, Ranked from Best to Worst
The twenty-two films that premièred in the 2024 festival’s main program offered much to savor and revile.
By Justin Chang
Cultural Comment
Chatsworth, Revisited
“Picturing Childhood” highlights the private, familial side of a storied estate.
By Rebecca Mead
What We’re Reading This Week
An exploration of hypochondria through the ages; a narrative history of economic growth and its paradoxical effects on our world; a memoir that braids a family story of immigration and identity with the natural history of ferns; and more.
The Front Row
Could Elaine May Finally Be Getting Her Due?
A new biography gives a compelling sense of a comic and cinematic genius, and also of the forces that derailed her Hollywood career.
By Richard Brody
Ideas
Are We Too Rich?
Capitalism, as it has been practiced throughout the past century, has brought with it plenty of problems. To preserve humanity—and the planet—should we give up growth?
By Idrees Kahloon
Not Your Childhood Library
An ambitious experiment is changing the way librarians work with their homeless patrons and challenging how we share public space.
By Paige Williams
The Trials and Tribulations of the Boymom
Gender norms are the ultimate zero-sum binary, and the #boymom phenomenon could not exist without them.
By Jessica Winter
Little Communes Everywhere
In a time when it can feel almost impossible to create a collective sense of anything, parents could learn something from radical movements.
By Jay Caspian Kang
Under Review
A Portrait of Japanese America, in the Shadow of the Camps
An essential new volume collects accounts of Japanese incarceration by patriotic idealists, righteous firebrands, and downtrodden cynics alike.
By Hua Hsu
Persons of Interest
Rachel Chavkin’s Broadway Choices
By Rachel Syme
Lucy Jones on the Transformations of Motherhood
By Anna Russell
Aasif Mandvi Contains Multitudes
By Inkoo Kang
George Miller on Making the “Mad Max” Movies
By Burkhard Bilger
The New Yorker Documentary
“Compton’s 22”
Drew de Pinto’s documentary explores the legacy of a 1966 riot in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district that was nearly lost to history.
Puzzles & Games
Take a break and play.
The Crossword
A puzzle that ranges in difficulty, with the occasional theme.
The Mini
A bite-size crossword, for a quick diversion.
Name Drop
Can you guess the notable person in six clues or fewer?
Cartoon Caption Contest
We provide a cartoon, you provide a caption.
In Case You Missed It
The Missionary in the Kitchen
I longed for purpose, meaning, the sense of being found. Then, one summer, I sort of was.
By Clare Sestanovich
Images of Climate Change That Cannot Be Missed
Just as we risk becoming inured to the crisis, an exhibition, “Coal + Ice,” serves as a stunning call to action.
By Bill McKibben
The Boston Celtics and What Greatness Looks Like
The team has dominated all season. Why does it have so many doubters?
By Louisa Thomas
Summer Camp and Parenting Panics
Camps once sold a story about social improvement. Now we just can’t conceive of an unscheduled moment.
By Jay Caspian Kang
The New Yorker Interview
Jonathan Groff Rolls Merrily Back
The actor reflects on his journey in reverse: from his latest Tony nomination to his arrival in New York, waiting tables and dreaming of Broadway.
By Michael Schulman
The Talk of the Town
The Boards
The Actors Recording a Studio Album for a Play About Recording a Studio Album
By Alex Barasch
Bessie, Lotte, Ruth, Farah, and Bridget, who had been lunching together for half a century, joined in later years by Ilka, Hope, and, occasionally, Lucinella, had agreed without the need for discussion that they were not going to pass, pass away, and under no circ*mstances on. They were going to die. It was now several years since Lotte had died in an assisted-living facility.Continue reading »
Shouts & Murmurs
Cartoons, comics, and other funny stuff. Sign up for the Humor newsletter.
The Millennial’s Lament
By River Clegg
A Cartoonist’s Origin Story
By Asher Perlman
God Explains the Rules of His New Board Game
By Teddy Wayne
Dear Pepper: Alone but Not Lonely
By Liana Finck
There’s Been an Accident at the Magical Cookie Factory!
By Robert Carlock and Sam Means
All of the Keys to New York City
By Miriam Jayaratna and Ali Solomon
