The New Yorker
Do Children Have a “Right to Hug” Their Parents?
Hundreds of counties around the country have ended in-person jail visits, replacing them with video calls and earning a cut of the profits. One mother said, of two years without seeing her children, “It broke our bond.” Sarah Stillman reports.
Above the Fold
Essential reading for today.
It’s a Climate Election Now
Trump’s reported billion-dollar offer to fossil-fuel executives shows that this is the key year to save the planet.
Can You Believe What Michael Cohen Just Said at the Trump Trial?
The star witness in the former President’s criminal trial is also the most aggrieved and seemingly unreliable one.
Is Netanyahu Choosing a War of Attrition Over Biden’s Wider Plan?
As Israelis mark their independence, the Biden Administration pushes for a regional alliance.
Did She Do It?
Lucy Letby, a British nurse, was found guilty of killing seven babies. Colleagues reportedly called her an “angel of death,” and the Prime Minister condemned her. But, in the rush to judgment, serious questions about the evidence were ignored.
Remembering Alice Munro
The Nobel Prize-winning short-story writer has died, at the age of ninety-two.
Alice Munro Reinvigorated the Short Story
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Working with the author was both a thrill and a lesson in intentionality.
Our Chekhov, Alice Munro
From 2013: Few contemporary writers are more admired, and with good reason.
“What Is Remembered”
From 2001: “What had happened in their lives surprised them, and they would joke about it.”
“The Bear Came Over the Mountain”
From 1999: “He wanted never to be away from her. She had the spark of life.”
The Wacky and Wonderful World of the Westminster Dog Show
A canine campaign can run to hundreds of thousands of dollars, not to mention all the brushing, trimming, blow-drying, and styling products. Did you think it was easy being top dog?
Can Forgetting Help You Remember?
A neuropsychologist says that we’re thinking about memory all wrong.
The Critics
Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and Our Moment of Bad Reading
The once-upon-a-time defense of the poetics of rap has been ceded to the millennial mind of genius.com, taking every syllable as ripe for mundane exegesis.
New Releases Make Old Jazz Young Again
Rediscovered archival concerts—and one recent one—offer important revelations.
Revisiting Composers Suppressed by the Nazis
The Musica Non Grata series, in Prague, explores the glittering, elusive world of Alexander Zemlinsky.
Looking at Art with Peter Schjeldahl
Recalling a friendship with The New Yorker’s late art critic.
“Baby Reindeer” and “Under the Bridge” Are Stranger Than Fiction
The two streaming series grapple with horrific real-life crimes—and with the complexity of the relationship between perpetrators and victims.
Nellie Bowles’s Failed Provocations
In “Morning After the Revolution,” the former Times reporter sets out to uncover a not-so-forbidden truth—that the left can be somewhat goofy.
What We’re Reading This Week
A detailed history of humanity’s prehistoric roots; a thoughtful study of four of Shakespeare’s female contemporaries; a novel that follows a family of globe-trotters and interlopers searching for perfect love; and more.
Ideas
What the Public Is Missing in Trump’s Court Cases
Supreme Court oral arguments—and Trump’s criminal trial—should be televised. Instead, the former President is on trial in a courtroom that has banned cameras, and the Supreme Court is deciding whether his other trials should even happen.
Blurring the Line Between Money and Media
Hunterbrook, a hybrid media-finance company, wants to monetize investigative journalism in the public interest. Is it a visionary game changer or a cynical ploy?
The Hidden-Pregnancy Experiment
An attempt to hide personal news from online ad trackers makes clear how much surveillance we are engaged in, as both subjects and objects, and how insidious the problem is becoming.
Can Suing People for Lying Save Democracy?
The lawyers at Protect Democracy have brought defamation suits against Rudy Giuliani, Kari Lake, and Project Veritas, hoping to limit the spread of disinformation. Others worry that their efforts could impinge on freedom of speech.
The View from Palestinian America
Six months into the war in Gaza, the quiet act of documenting life is a kind of protest against erasure.
The Other Side of the River
Millions of Palestinians live in Jordan, where rage about the suffering in Gaza has reached a boiling point. Can the country’s leaders, who have a long-standing peace agreement with Israel, keep things under control?
Puzzles & Games
Take a break and play.
In Case You Missed It
Swimming with My Daughters
It was so reasonable—why couldn’t we want different things? Two could go into the water and one could stay on the shore. But I didn’t want to leave her there.
The Talk of the Town
When we got to her house, she came at me.Continue reading »
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