The New Yorker
When Health Care Itself Becomes Sick
Health insurers and hospitals increasingly treat patients less as humans in need of care than consumers who generate profit. Dhruv Khullar writes about how the mortal dangers of corporate medicine finally became undeniable and inescapable.
Today’s Mix
Donald Trump Is Picking Fights. Will Anyone Hit Back?
On Chris Wray’s self-defenestration and the dilemma of being on the pugilistic President-elect’s target list.
Searching for Loved Ones in a Newly Liberated Syrian Prison
After the fall of Bashar al-Assad, the country tries to discern the fate of people the regime locked away.
The Year Creators Took Over
The attention economy has dominated the Internet for years, but now its protagonists feel central to American life—and have direct access to the levers of power.
No Sex, Please. We’re American
Why should American exceptionalism end at the red-light district?
The Lede
A daily column on what you need to know.
How Would Kash Patel Compare to J. Edgar Hoover?
If Trump’s pick to lead the F.B.I. gets confirmed, the Bureau could be politicized in ways that even its notorious first director would have rejected.
The Hollow Allure of Spotify Wrapped
This year’s recap, with A.I. bots and uninspired presentation, revealed a company that seems chiefly concerned with profit margins and squashing its competition.
The Fall of Assad’s Syria
In the wake of President Bashar al-Assad’s remarkable abdication of power, jubilation and fear collide as the country—and the region—faces an uncertain future.
What Will Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy Accomplish with DOGE?
Two political newcomers have arrived to slash big government, but so far the project seems less revolutionary than advertised.
A Bionic Leg Controlled by the Brain
A new kind of prosthetic limb depends on carbon fibre and computer chips—and the reëngineering of muscles, tendons, and bone.
Our Columnists
What Google Off-loading Chrome Would Mean for Users
A landmark antitrust ruling could change the Internet’s power balance, but the industry is shifting regardless.
How Long Will the Trump Crypto Boom Last?
As a pro-crypto Administration prepares to take power and crypto investors cheer, there are some parallels with the dot-com boom of the late nineties.
The Scandal of Trump’s Cabinet Picks Isn’t Just Their Personal Failings
The President-elect and his appointees now view their internal enemies as America’s biggest national-security threats.
A Feminist Director Takes On the Erotic Thriller
Halina Reijn has always loved the genre—and revelled in creating a steamy melodrama for Nicole Kidman in which the protagonist is “greedy,” “dark,” and “wrong.”
2024 in Review
The Best TV Shows of 2024
In an otherwise bleak year for television, a few truly great entries shone all the more brightly.
The Animals That Made It All Worth It
This year, it was hard to feel good about humans. Moo Deng, Crumbs, and Pilaf kept us sane.
The Best Performances
A middle-aged, murderous Tom Ripley; a boozy, stagestruck Mary Todd Lincoln; an unlikely pair of singers at the Grammys—these were the acts that broke through the noise of this fractious, tumultuous year.
The Best Podcasts
Despite industry turmoil, old and new shows continue to innovate, whether investigating Elon Musk, high-school mysteries, or our relationship to death itself.
Instagram’s Favorite New Yorker Cartoons
Jokes about spinach, laundry, politics, and “The Bear” proved popular among the scrollers and double-tappers this year.
The Best Albums
It’s possible that I listened to more music this year than any other. I lost interest in podcasts. I lost interest in silence. There was too much extraordinary work out there.
The Best Jokes
A suggestive tennis match, a manic “Hot Ones” interview, and other amusing moments in an often surreal year.
President Emmanuel Macron Has Plunged France into Chaos
Lawmakers have toppled the government for the first time since 1962. How did we get here?
The Critics
Leos Carax’s Self-Portrait Film “It’s Not Me” Is So Him
In a whirligig forty-two minutes, Carax combines his spectacular cinematic ambitions and his singular sense of style with political history and unmitigated indignation.
Remembering Kenneth Branagh’s Shakespearean Heyday (and Forgetting His Recent Lear)
In the nineteen-eighties and nineties, the actor, writer, and director ushered in a Golden Era of Shakespeare plays on film the likes of which we haven’t seen since.
Great Books Don’t Make Great Films, but “Nickel Boys” Is a Glorious Exception
RaMell Ross’s first dramatic feature, an adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s novel, gives the bearing of witness an arresting cinematic form.
The Berlin Philharmonic Doesn’t Need a Star Conductor
The musicians possess a powerful collective personality, creating an organic mass of sound.
Kendrick Lamar’s Year on Top
What has made Lamar both fascinating and a bit dangerous, for those, such as Drake, who chose to cross him this year, is the fact that he doesn’t seem to desire anything that his peers have.
Paul Valéry Would Prefer Not To
In his early novella, “Monsieur Teste,” the great French poet created an alter ego even more aloof and elusive than he was.
The Essential Reads of 2024
Our writers’ and editors’ roundup of favorites includes an investigation of the C.I.A.’s shortcomings, a woman’s road trip through the personal and sexual upheavals of middle age, a history of the plundering of the planet, and more.
December 4, 2024
Persons of Interest
Mike Leigh’s Love Affair with Real Life
In his new film, “Hard Truths,” the director returns to his favorite mode: building intimate portraits of regular people, from the ground up.
The Philosopher L. A. Paul Wants Us to Think About Our Selves
To whom should we have allegiance—the version of ourself making choices, or the version of ourself who will be affected by them?
Daniel Craig’s Masculine Constructs
The actor discusses making the new movie “Queer” and breaking out of his Bondian image.
Sarah McBride Wasn’t Looking for a Fight on Trans Rights
The first trans person elected to Congress discusses how to respond to a bathroom bill and transphobic attacks from her new colleagues in the House.
Converting to Judaism in the Wake of October 7th
For decades, I maintained a status quo of living like a Jew without being one. When I finally pursued conversion, I discovered that I was part of a larger movement born of crisis.
Ideas
The New Business of Breakups
After getting dumped (by text), a writer investigates the feverish boom in heartbreak apps, breakup coaches, and get-over-him getaways.
A Portrait of the Artist as an Amazon Reviewer
Between 2003 and 2019, Kevin Killian published almost twenty-four hundred reviews on the site. Can they be considered literature?
What Does a Translator Do?
Damion Searls, who has translated a Nobel laureate, believes his craft isn’t about transforming or reflecting a text. It’s about conjuring one’s experience of it.
Rise of the Machines
A future generation of robots will not be programmed to complete specific tasks. Instead, they will use A.I. to teach themselves.
Puzzles & Games
Take a break and play.
In Case You Missed It
The Talk of the Town
R.F.K., Jr., Wants to Eliminate Fluoridated Water. He Used to Bottle and Sell It
Daily Cartoon
