Last spring, a graduate student in social anthropology—let’s call him Chris—sat down at his laptop and asked ChatGPT for help with a writing assignment. He pasted a few thousand words, a mix of rough summaries and jotted-down bullet...
Early last year, on a slushy predawn morning, I drove to the Montana state capitol building, in Helena, to see the legislature in action. The body is made up of a hundred and fifty “citizen legislators” who meet...
At the end of “Anna Karenina,” Konstantin Levin, the less famous of the novel’s two main protagonists, muses on his isolation amid a loving family. Unlike Anna, he has a happy marriage. His wife, Kitty, and son, Mitya,...
If every city has a culinary punch line, it’s easy to identify Los Angeles’s: Erewhon, the cultish chain of grocery stores, where a half gallon of “hyper oxygenated” water will run you an unconscionable $25.99. It started, in...
For the cover of the October 7, 2024, issue, in which the editors endorse Kamala Harris for President, the artist Malika Favre portrays the Democratic candidate. “As soon as Harris—an empowered woman, but also the first both Black...
When the British comedian Rosie Holt heard that Rishi Sunak, then the Prime Minister and head of the Conservative Party, would be holding a snap election in July, earlier than many expected, her first thought was: “So annoying!”...
While Gustavo Dudamel is busy jump-starting the Carnegie Hall season with a glamorous gala—complete with another Gustavo, the baritone Castillo—the Park Avenue Armory has a slightly less ostentatious night planned. The tenor Karim Sulayman, a Lebanese American son...
In 1952, a book appeared that redefined children’s literature. “A lap is so you don’t get crumbs on the floor,” it proclaimed. “A mustache is to wear on Halloween. A hat is to wear on a train.” The...
In 1992, a combination of drought, power outages, and escalating violence took a heavy toll on the nation of Colombia. “Bogotá Story” follows a young couple, living in the capital city, who must navigate their personal struggles and...
Back in July, the journalist Ezra Klein interviewed Elaina Plott Calabro, a staff writer at The Atlantic, on his popular podcast, “The Ezra Klein Show.” Calabro had profiled Kamala Harris the previous year, and Klein wondered whether the...
