A Place of Greater Safety
In granting their prime minister a third term, Armenians have embarked on a bold historic gamble to align their country with Turkey and the West.
Cultural Studies
"Culture is an instrument wielded by professors to manufacture professors." — Simone Weil
Anything Could Become a Battleground
Isaac Butler’s new book mixes history and personal testimony to examine the ‘culture wars’ that shaped the 1980s—conflicts that differed in striking ways from the ones we’re witnessing today.
Only a Place Like This
Reporting from a car in Baghdad.
Imagining New Ways to Live
A new essay anthology offers a portrait of communal life that is far more expansive than popular representations often allow.
A Brief History of Flow
What the internet learned from television.
John Waters Is ‘Officially Good’
The legendary director talks about his films’ induction into the Criterion Collection, comedy as our best weapon against fascism, and ‘going on 81.’
The Expert as Tourist
Beverly Gage takes a road trip through historic sites from 1776 to today, discovering optimism for our political future along the way.
Love Is Stronger than Death
Jesmyn Ward’s new essay collection touches on familiar topics from her fiction: coastal Mississippi, poverty, the ravages of racism, and the power of storytelling.
The End of What World?
Diving into the archives, Richie George highlights a review of African science fiction that imagines bold futures, unrestrained by the limitations hindering solipsistic SF from the Global North.
What the ‘Footprint’ Forgets
Radhika Subramaniam unsettles the Anthropocene’s dominant metaphor for humans’ impact on the earth.
Don’t Hate the Player: A World Cup Roundup
The world’s favorite sport, blemishes and all, has come to Los Angeles.
Everybody Wants This
‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ wants to rehabilitate the fashion industry’s brutal early 2000s workplace culture, but it can’t quite hide how much it misses it.
