The New Yorker
What We Knew Without Knowing
After the death of Joan Didion, in 2021, archivists found a thick file of notes to her husband, John Gregory Dunne, detailing her sessions with her psychiatrist. The notes feature some of her frankest writing on motherhood, aging, and creative fulfillment, in the years just before she lost both Dunne and their daughter.
Today’s Mix
The Fired Student-Debt Relievers
As Donald Trump guts the Department of Education, a vastly diminished staff attempts to keep the wheels on the government’s $1.6-trillion loan portfolio.
The “Snow White” Controversy, Like Our Zeitgeist, Is Both Stupid and Sinister
Placing the failure of the live-action remake largely at Rachel Zegler’s feet is almost perversely flattering to her.
The Limits of A.I.-Generated Miyazaki
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The launch of GPT-4o inspired a rash of A.I.-generated Studio Ghibli-style images. They may bode worse for audiences than for artists.
Fighting Elon Musk, One Tesla Dealership at a Time
“It’s ironic that, as a pro-democracy and pro-climate group, we’re protesting against electric cars,” one activist said. “But you cannot sacrifice our democracy for one piece of the thing.”
What Marine Le Pen’s Conviction Means for French Democracy
After the far-right leader was found guilty of embezzlement and barred from running for office, her supporters cried foul. Was justice served or politicized?
The Makeup Artist Donald Trump Deported Under the Alien Enemies Act
The President has invoked the law to send Venezuelans to prison without due process. Among them is a thirty-one-year-old makeup artist whose only crime is having the wrong tattoos.
The Lede
A daily column on what you need to know.
Why Is Elon Musk Trying to Buy a Wisconsin Supreme Court Seat?
The election is a crucial test for the growing backlash against the Trump Administration’s agenda.
Why Benjamin Netanyahu Is Going Back to War
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The public’s fears for the fate of the ceasefire and the hostages have become a struggle over the rule of law.
How Trump Throttled Big Law
Is a top firm’s deal with the President a necessary act of survival or a damaging blow to the entire profession?
The Greater Scandal of Signalgate
The spectacle of incompetence and the attempts to smear a reporter are a misery; even worse is the encroaching threat of autocracy that cannot be concealed or encrypted.
Will Trump’s Gulf of America Power Trip Break the White House Press Corps?
The Associated Press had its day in court on Thursday, but free speech in this Presidency is already a big loser.
The Senate’s Age of Irrelevance
Elon Musk’s DOGE and Trump’s executive orders are pushing Congress’s upper chamber from ineffectiveness to obsolescence. Will John Thune, the new Majority Leader, let them?
The Critics
The Second Season of “Wolf Hall” Surpasses Its Acclaimed Predecessor
In the culmination of the Hilary Mantel adaptation, Mark Rylance’s Thomas Cromwell becomes a more poignant figure, weighed down by regrets.
“Fiume o Morte!” Brilliantly Dramatizes the Rise of a Demagogue
Igor Bezinović’s film thrusts century-old archival footage into the present, restaging the brazen reign of an autocrat whose tactics feel startlingly resonant today.
An Ingénue’s Intimate Snapshots of the New Hollywood
Candy Clark’s Polaroid closeups of familiar faces—Steven Spielberg, Carrie Fisher, Jeff Bridges—evoke a looser, more freewheeling time in show business.
When Marvel Meets “Much Ado About Nothing”
A splashy new production of the play may give a sense of where Shakespeare productions are heading.
Crevette Makes Great Seafood Look Easy
A new restaurant from the team behind Dame and Lord’s doesn’t so much enter the seafood conversation as elegantly commandeer it.
An Overpriced “Othello” Goes Splat on Broadway
Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal lack direction, and “The Trojans,” a spirited football-themed Iliad, heads for the end zone.
The Best Books We Read This Week
A real-life saga about a family that, after moving to Los Angeles in search of better schools, was left mostly unhoused for the next five years; an illuminating collection of essays that inspects the relationship between fiction and nonfiction; a richly informative exploration of human biological diversity; and more.
Our Columnists
Are We Taking A.I. Seriously Enough?
There’s no longer any scenario in which A.I. fades into irrelevance. We urgently need voices from outside the industry to help shape its future.
How Donald Trump Is Teaching Christians to Abandon Empathy
The head of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary says that empathy is “used politically in ways that are very destructive and manipulative.”
Baseball Reaches Its Breaking Point
An elbow-injury epidemic has become an existential threat to the sport, prompting the M.L.B. to brainstorm new solutions, such as the use of a heavier ball.
Why Do We Want to Believe That Jim Morrison Is Still Alive?
The singer died in 1971. A new documentary series posits that he faked his death to escape the burden of fame, and is living in hiding.
The Six-Figure Nannies and Housekeepers of Palm Beach
An influx of ultra-high-net-worth newcomers has increased demand for experienced—and discreet—household staff.
Ideas
The Myth of the Universal Patient
From growth charts to anemia thresholds, clinical standards assume a single human prototype. Why are we still using one-size-fits-all health metrics?
Just Between Us
Champions of gossip are out to change the practice’s bad reputation. Could dishing the dirt be good for us?
Your A.I. Lover Will Change You
A future where many humans are in love with bots may not be far off. Should we regard them as training grounds for healthy relationships or as nihilistic traps?
We Are Sleepwalking Into Autocracy
Senator Chris Murphy, of Connecticut, describes how free and fair elections might end in America as soon as 2026.
Welcome to the Preschool Plague Years
Young children bring so much joy into their parents’ lives—and so, so many germs.
Training the Canine Star of “The Friend”
Bing, a two-year-old Great Dane from Iowa, won a nationwide search for a dog with the right unwieldy size, mournful bearing, and general majesty for a role in the film adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s novel “The Friend.” In 2024, Nick Paumgarten wrote about how the animal trainer Bill Berloni got him ready for the limelight.
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