R. Crumb’s illustration of the first chapters of Genesis in the magazine this week illuminates the sublime text with dazzling visual wit. But the word “Bible” comes from the ordinary Greek word “biblos,” or “book”—i.e., an ordinary object that can be bought and sold, which is the function it serves in the Maysles brothers’ groundbreaking documentary “Salesman,” from 1968. The filmmakers follow a quartet of door-to-door Bible salesmen on their rounds in New England and in Florida—in particular, one, Paul Brennan, called The Badger, whose self-awareness, in such a brazen industry, is also his curse. The directors’ quiet persistence, alertness, and sensitivity to the rich and dark emotions that the salesmen and their targets arouse make the film a classic; it’s also a template for a genre of documentary that has been popular long since, the “exotic subculture flourishing unnoticed among us” film.
Goings On
What we’re watching, listening to, and doing this week, online, in N.Y.C., and beyond. Paid subscribers also receive book picks.
Pop Music
The Tortured Poetry of Taylor Swift’s New Album
“The Tortured Poets Department” has moments of tenderness. But it suffers from being too long and too familiar.
By Amanda Petrusich
Letter from Biden’s Washington
Did Mike Johnson Just Get Religion on Ukraine?
The Speaker’s sudden willingness to bring foreign-aid bills to the House floor risks his Speakership—and Trump’s wrath.
By Susan B. Glasser
Infinite Scroll
The Internet’s New Favorite Philosopher
Byung-Chul Han, in treatises such as “The Burnout Society” and his latest, “The Crisis of Narration,” diagnoses the frenetic aimlessness of the digital age.
By Kyle Chayka
Dept. of Medicine
How to Die in Good Health
The average American celebrates just one healthy birthday after the age of sixty-five. Peter Attia argues that it doesn’t have to be this way.
By Dhruv Khullar