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If you want the Smashburger, in New York City you’re in luck, because suddenly there’s a Smashburger joint every other block. If... Read More

On Thursday morning, PEN America, the free-speech organization, posted an article detailing the “isolation and exclusion” many... Read More

“My sister Emily was not a person of demonstrative character, nor one on the recesses of whose mind and feelings even those nearest and... Read More

About 2,000 years ago, the Roman philosopher Seneca warned of a crisis of attention. The problem wasn’t caused by smartphones or... Read More

On a Monday in June, like almost every Monday for the past two years, my brother and I walk into Gertrude’s, a bistro at the corner of... Read More

Argentine rock is one of the richest and most diverse in the world. It probably is, after American and British rock and in contention with... Read More

In 2021, after posting a tasteful brag about finally finishing his novel, Gabriel Hart found an eager literary agent in his DMs. Before he... Read More

IF THERE HAS BEEN A comprehensive study of the filmmaker-written novel, I have yet to encounter it. Should it indeed remain to be written, it... Read More

A couple days after I spoke with iconic essayist David Sedaris about his new book, The Land and Its People, a postcard—the first... Read More

“Social media is increasingly anti-social,” argues New York University psychology professor Jay Van Bavel. Only 7 percent of... Read More

The novelist Michael Connelly has given us some memorable characters over the years—the no-nonsense Harry Bosch, the quick-thinking and... Read More

I walk because it allows you to see a place in a way that you can’t when zooming through it, treating it as a spectacle to be... Read More

In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville outlined the utility of studying the ancients for certain individuals living under a modern... Read More

In the summer of 2023, Patrick Radden Keefe had the opportunity to go to London to observe the production of the FX adaptation of his 2018... Read More

We’ve all heard about the “problem with young men.” Those opining about it all seem to have their own miraculous... Read More

(Warning: spoilers ahead) The surprising (to some) box office success of the brand-new Young Washington during America’s... Read More

A recent number-one box-office movie was Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day, an alien sci-fi thriller that seemed poised to return... Read More

In October 1961, two young men — boys, really — met by chance while waiting at a train station in London’s eastern suburbs.... Read More

I do not often write about movies. In fact, I have not written an essay about one in more than thirty years. The last time I did so followed... Read More

Conventional wisdom holds that the United States is the most violent and dangerous nation in the developed world. This dark view is... Read More

It is axiomatic that countries hosting the World Cup try to put their best face forward. During the monthlong tournament, streets are cleared... Read More

Downtown is not the most beautiful part of Toronto, but it’s certainly the most identifiable, a stretch of skyscrapers spanning the... Read More

Traffic was at a standstill on Interstate 40 through the Pigeon River Gorge when the message came through.  Whoa. Breaking News. Dolly... Read More

There exists such a thing as a “poet’s novel” — that is, a novel written by a writer who is primarily a poet. Notable... Read More

Salman Rushdie has declared that artificial intelligence has no role to play in literature, cinema or storytelling of any kind, dismissing... Read More

Given America’s 250th, I postponed my art-news piece for June as well as the announcement of my first Supreme Flower of Nitwittery... Read More

Halfway through 2026. Only halfway through 2026? Already halfway through 2026? It’s impossible to know how to feel about time passing... Read More

The US Women’s National Team is a major player in FIFA’s Women’s World Cup, having won two of the last three and four since... Read More

As religious polarization increases, so has the conflict between two visions of America’s identity. Vice President JD Vance has... Read More

Two hundred fifty years and two days into the American experiment, a 55-year-old bespectacled bald man from Liverpool enters a sterile hotel... Read More

In the extensive coverage of this year’s July 4 celebrations in Washington, DC, it was often mentioned that 850,000 fireworks were... Read More

Some people are surprised that there are almost no male characters in my novel. Really? I thought the myth that women spend most of their... Read More

I grew up with an older sister and two older female cousins. We didn’t all live in the same state. We didn’t have the same... Read More

From Nantucket’s cottages to Malibu’s beaches, from urban parks to Midwestern hammocks: it’s time to pick a spot and hunker... Read More

Leaders within top AI firms and independent researchers have been speculating about when, or if, we should take into consideration how the... Read More

If you asked me who my favorite contemporary comic poet is, I wouldn’t hesitate a second. It’s Billy Collins, U.S. Poet Laureate... Read More

If offered the choice, how many of us would take riches, fame, and recognition, even if the price is a half-life? We know from fairy tales... Read More

At a Palo Alto, California, record store in September 1975, the latest issue of Rolling Stone caught the eye of local high school student... Read More

After a long and merciless winter, summer is upon us, and with it, the urgent need for beach reads, pool reads, park reads, fire escape... Read More

Cable television, the source you turn to if you’re looking for a veritable cornucopia of drug commercials with bits of mid-tier shows... Read More

Brooklyn in July. Everywhere is hot. I fill a water bottle, put my swim suit on underneath a pair of shorts, throw my cap and goggles into a... Read More