The New Yorker
Top Dog
A canine campaign for the annual Westminster Dog Show can run to hundreds of thousands of dollars, not to mention all the brushing, blow-drying, and styling products. Kathryn Schulz peers behind the scenes and considers why so many humans are mad about their pets.
Above the Fold
Essential reading for today.
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.
Stormy Daniels and the American Dream
Trump’s lawyers tried to portray the adult-film actress as a lying profiteer. Instead, she emerged as a credible witness who is also very good at making money.
Does Biden Understand Netanyahu’s Aims in Gaza?
Dennis Ross, a longtime Middle East negotiator, on the competing interests stymieing a hostage deal—and a possible end to the war.
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. A selection of writing honors her literary legacy.
Editing Alice Munro
From 2013: What one remembers most clearly from her work are those finite, fleeting moments on which whole narratives hinge.
Alice Munro, Our Chekhov
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 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?
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.
How Hindsight Distorts Our View of the Beatles in “Let It Be”
Usually seen as a document of the band’s breakup, the documentary, newly restored by Peter Jackson, is just as much a record of freewheeling inspiration.
Gallery Hopping with Roger Corman
The filmmaker known as B-movie royalty died last week. In 2013, in his late eighties, he talked art, optimism, and pretty girls in bikinis.
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.
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 Workingman and the Company Store
Can a progressive campaign break the coal industry’s hold on West Virginia politics?
Puzzles & Games
Take a break and play.
In Case You Missed It
When we got to her house, she came at me.Continue reading »
