Namwali Serpell Black Hole Black pussy is our absent center. It is everywhere and nowhere on the Internet. March 26, 2021
Alan Rusbridger Two Centuries of ‘The Guardian’ There have been both lean and comfortable times over the decades, but the paper has held its editorial nerve. May 27, 2021 issue
Ursula Lindsey Ancient Egypt for the Egyptians Europeans made—and carried away—many of the most famous discoveries of the “Golden Age of Egyptology,” but Egyptians today are beginning to reclaim their own past. May 13, 2021 issue
Margaret Eby The Gourmand’s Way Along with his celebration of American vernacular cooking, James Beard brought playfulness into the kitchen. But an ethical opportunism is part of his legacy and the culture he helped create. June 10, 2021 issue
Michelle Chen Chinatown’s Long Covid A younger generation tackles the latest, greatest threat to the historic district’s survival. March 4, 2021
Coco Fusco Deaccessioning Empire A few daring curators are confronting the imperial histories of their museums. February 25, 2021 issue
Jenny Uglow They Made London Their Own A new book traces the multitudinous contributions of migrants to the capital, as well as their persistent exploitation. December 3, 2020 issue
Marina Warner Splash Fantastic beliefs, in the form of false claims and urban legends, have been traveling irresistibly since the eighteenth century. The effect today has been amplified by social media; mermaid sightings rank in popularity alongside those of aliens, angels, and unicorns. March 25, 2021 issue
Janet Malcolm A Second Chance A trial jury is like an audience at a play that wants to be entertained. Witnesses, like stage actors, have to play to that audience if their performances are to be convincing. September 24, 2020 issue
Janet Malcolm Good Pictures If the threat of taking boring pix hangs over every photographer of ambition, Diane Arbus was perhaps more conscious of it than any other photographer. January 15, 2004 issue
Janet Malcolm The Master Writer of the City Joseph Mitchell’s notorious nonfiction inventions revealed a hybrid genre for which he had a singular genius. April 23, 2015 issue
Janet Malcolm The Trial of Alyosha In Václav Havel’s letters, the strictures of censorship elicited from him a strange, unclassifiable, inadvertent masterpiece. June 14, 1990 issue
Anne Enright The Burden of ‘Yes’ Katherine Angel is part of a new generation of female writers who are revisiting ideas of female submission. August 19, 2021 issue
Phil Penman New York, Anew As the city emerges from long pandemic hibernation, New Yorkers tell how they survived it and what their hopes are for the future. July 10, 2021
Mark O’Connell Uncanny Planet A new collection of essays by Nathaniel Rich argues that there is no going back to whatever might be meant by “nature.” July 22, 2021 issue
Fintan O’Toole Freedom for Sale In the 1950s and 1960s, a new generation of American artists began to think of advertising and commercial imagery as the new avant-garde. July 22, 2021 issue
Peter C. Baker Death Drives Pedestrian fatalities are rising dramatically in the US, and Angie Schmitt’s Right of Way gives a rare look at why and what might be done about it. July 22, 2021 issue
Josephine Quinn Ravenna Between East and West It has been a barbarian city, a holy city, a woman’s city, and a city ruled by Romans, Huns, Goths, Greeks, and bishops. July 22, 2021 issue
Christine Smallwood The Power of Questions Jacqueline Rose’s latest book, On Violence and On Violence Against Women, takes up a subject she has not covered before: gendered abuse and harassment. July 22, 2021 issue
Anne Diebel Cubicle Messiah WeWork was hurtling into the future, with Adam Neumann leading the way. What led to its dramatic collapse? July 22, 2021 issue
David A. Bell A Haunted Patrimony Through their art collecting wealthy Jews staked a claim to being French, but the nation they loved savagely betrayed them. July 1, 2021 issue
Robert Macfarlane The Landscapes Inside Us Our navigational ability as a species is closely connected to our ability to tell stories about ourselves that unfold both backward and forward in time. July 1, 2021 issue
