The Magazine
August 26, 2024
Goings On
Goings On
Fall Culture Preview
What’s happening this season in art, theatre, TV, music, dance, and movies.
The Talk of the Town
Amy Davidson Sorkin on Trump’s legal prospects; newspaper thefts; Chris Perfetti at the zoo; from the Nile to the Housatonic; bear suggestions.
Comment
Trump’s Got Troubles
His campaign is careening, his poll numbers are slipping, and, after something of a summer lull, he is due for several confrontations in court.
Printed Word Dept.
Stop! Newspaper Thief!
On one Yorkville block, print isn’t dying—it’s being stolen. Can a book conservator, a ninety-year-old fax enthusiast, and a vigilante nab a well-read bandit?
The Boards
Chris Perfetti Considers the Lion
The “Abbott Elementary” star heads to the Bronx Zoo to research his role as a queer, existentialist feline predator in the play “Open Throat.”
Downstream Dept.
Graduation Day at an Urban Kayak Camp
New York City teens, trapped in the concrete jungle, head out on the Housatonic with two pros, Jessie Stone and Eric Jackson, for some of their first river rides.
Sketchpad
Did R.F.K., Jr., Squander a Golden Opportunity with the Dead Bear Cub?
Sure, dumping it in Central Park was interesting. But had he even considered using it as a delicious gift for Putin, or as a pickup line with the ladies?
Reporting & Essays
Annals of Nature
Our Very Strange Search for “Sea Level”
As the oceans ebb and surge, staggering ingenuity has gone into inventing the measure.
A Reporter at Large
Infiltrating the Far Right
The threat from domestic terrorism is rising, but, with Republicans decrying the “deep state,” the F.B.I. is cautious about investigating far-right groups. Vigilantes are leaping into the fray.
Letter from Kenya
The Cult in the Forest
A pastor led his followers into the woods. Hundreds have since been found dead.
Shouts & Murmurs
Shouts & Murmurs
My Life’s Work
Every day for the past forty years, I’ve got up in the morning and tried to figure out how to get tiny shards of plastic into human testicles.
Fiction
Sketchbook
Supplies Needed for a Tech C.E.O. Murder-Mystery Dinner Party
A megayacht that emits smog clues, a candlestick that can testify before Congress, and more.
Fiction
“The Narayans”
There were so few Indians in Edison, New Jersey, in those days; we felt that each of us reflected well or badly on the others.
The Critics
On Television
The Kamala Show
How Vice-President Harris’s public persona has evolved, from tough prosecutor to frozen interviewee to joyful candidate.
A Critic at Large
Are Bookstores Just a Waste of Space?
In the online era, brick-and-mortar book retailers have been forced to redefine themselves.
Books
Briefly Noted
“Hitler’s People,” “The Salt of the Universe,” “The Safekeep,” and “Someone Like Us.”
Books
Is A.I. Making Mothers Obsolete?
Helen Phillips’s new novel takes place in a dystopian world where the environment has been devastated and humans have outsourced their best selves to tireless, empathetic robots.
The Current Cinema
With “Close Your Eyes,” a Legendary Filmmaker Makes a Stunning Return
In his first feature in more than two decades, the Spanish director Víctor Erice tells a story haunted by the ghosts of cinema past.
Poems
Poems
“On Emptiness”
“If only I could stand the infinite measures, wait long enough, / and not waste their buoyant resolve.”
Cartoons
Puzzles & Games
The Mail
Letters should be sent with the writer’s name, address, and daytime phone number via e-mail to[email protected].Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium. We regret that owing to the volume of correspondence we cannot reply to every letter.