Get a Tech Job, Babies!
The puzzling rise in high-level science books for infants and toddlers.
Culture: TV, Movies, Music, Art, and Theatre News and Reviews
Cultural news and criticism, and conversations about TV, theatre, movies, and music, as well as Goings On About Town listings from The New Yorker.
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The Coming (and Not Coming) of the Sex-Recession Movie
In films like “One Night Only” and “I Want Your Sex,” our prudish age becomes the scene of a crime.
Should You Believe in Fate?
We’d be happier, perhaps, if we found meaning not through abstractions but through the physical things around us.
Late Summertime Idylls by the Water
A roundup of bars on boats and at the beach.
Is the Smithsonian Really Trying to Destroy America?
Trump claims that the institution has fallen into the hands of Marxist radicals. A stroll through the exhibitions suggests otherwise.
“Every Weekday at 4:45 P.M.,” by Libby Flores
In the delicious heat, a summer breeze came and they fought as the woman sucked her ice cream through the bottom of her cone.
Critics’ Cult Classics: Emily Nussbaum on “Slings & Arrows”
The New Yorker writer sings the praises of a little-known Canadian television series set at a Shakespeare festival—which happens to be her favorite show of all time.
The Podcast That’s Charting a Post-Trump Future
“America, Actually,” a new offering from Vox, is trying to talk about politics without talking about the President. Is that even possible?
A “12 Inch Pianist” Walks Into a Bar
Lucas Ansel’s stop-motion short reveals a few fellow-drinkers’ deepest desires in this reimagined Shouts & Murmurs classic.
Can Head Start Be Deregulated Out of Existence?
The early-childhood program faces a renewed assault by the Trump Administration.
The Glorious Disorder of Michael Ondaatje’s Early Work
For writers like me, who had crossed borders to arrive in the West, Ondaatje’s disregard for established boundaries taught us how to spell out our own liberation.
Three Books that Will Transport You
Be moved the old-fashioned way.
The Mark of the Machine
Few forces have proved as powerful at tempering A.I. use as public shaming has. Now Anthropic is making it even easier to determine if text was generated by Claude.
“Dreams in Nightmares” Turns the Art Life Political
Struggles for personal and creative freedom fuel Shatara Michelle Ford’s second feature, about three women’s search for a friend gone missing.
Usher and Chris Brown’s Audacious Joint Tour
The R. & B. megastars seem to think their genre needs saving. But from what?
“The End of Oak Street” Is a Weirdly Alienated Jurassic Lark
In David Robert Mitchell’s film, starring Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor, a family is endangered not only by dinosaurs but also by the director’s penchant for Spielbergian nostalgia.
Briefly Noted Book Reviews
“The Yahoo Boys,” “Unsayable,” “Sunrise,” and “Skin Contact.”
Anatomy of a Sex Scandal
What a nineteenth-century uproar reveals about our zeal for public shaming—and the truths that get trampled along the way.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Hooters
The chain is attempting a wholesome revival. Will it work?
The Improbable Longevity of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”
The irreverent comedy is the longest-running sitcom in history, yet has won no major awards. What gives?
Diana Ejaita’s “Before the Plunge”
A moment of stillness.
How Sam Smith Found Their Voice
The Grammy-winning artist on coming out as nonbinary, writing requited love songs for the first time, and why their new album, “Hazel Eyes,” is their most personal yet.
“Life of M,” Reviewed
“The Yahoo Boys,” “Unsayable,” “Sunrise,” and “Skin Contact.”
Restaurant Review: A Tasting Menu That Uses Every Last Scrap
At Cynthia, an emphasis on low-waste cooking yields a menu of thrilling abundance.
The Unlikely Reign of “Choosin’ Texas”
Ella Langley’s chart-topping lament is about what everyone wants to do in mid-August: give in and let go.
When Middle Age Comes Into Focus
A bevy of cultural sacraments marks our passage into adulthood, but the yawning decades beyond it unspool without ceremony.
The Wealth and Glam of “The Hamptons” Looks Almost Quaint
Barbara Kopple’s documentary follows a generation of starlets, moguls, and other tanned partygoers who have no idea what tragedies and class anxieties lie in store.
The Lonely Men at the End of the World
In Patagonia, los puesteros look after other people’s livestock for not very much money, and sometimes go months without seeing anyone else.
Bernie Sanders Takes on Data Centers
The Vermont senator co-sponsored a bill that calls for a moratorium on building data centers. He discusses the environmental and economic concerns, and what the government can do.
A.O.C.’s Eggs and the Working Woman’s Inconvenient Truth
By preserving her fertility, the youngest woman elected to Congress is facing trade-offs familiar to many women. By doing it publicly, she’s driving conservatives crazy.
Toons Have Seldom Been Loonier Than in “Coyote vs. Acme”
Dave Green’s film about Wile E. Coyote’s quest for compensation sounds a note of zany triumph, having escaped, Road Runner-like, Warner’s attempt to cancel it.
What’s the Value of an Hour?
If the world seems to waste our time, it’s partly because we view time itself as a resource to be extracted and optimized.
What to Do in New York City This Fall
Culture preview: what’s coming this season in TV, movies, art, theatre, dance, and music.
Phoebe Bridgers Comes Back to Earth
The indie artist’s new album, “Lost Weekend,” is a document of both rupture and redemption.
“The Hobbler,” by Ingeborg Bachmann
Maybe there’s still hope for a new morning, for clouds that cluster like ripe grapes which, when squeezed, will release from the heavens the sweet streams of enchanted days.
POTUS on the Move
And no one’s the wiser.
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Claudia Rankine Plays Dead
In “Triage,” the writer explores how we should respond—or, perhaps, not respond—to a world in crisis.
The Best Books of 2026 So Far
Our editors and critics review notable new fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
What to Read After “Lonesome Dove”
The Larry McMurtry novel is back in rotation; we asked our critics what book to pick up next.
Perez Hilton and Our Live-Streaming Nightmare
There is nothing that speaks more to our perma-tabloid social environment than the advent of the live stream, which has allowed ordinary people to become both the celebrity and the paparazzi of their own lives.
Could “Fast” Be, at Long Last, Rob Tregenza’s Breakout Film?
A young auto racer brings speed and passion to small-town life in an unsung American auteur’s latest work.
Where Wild Things Go
Rummaging through the classics.
The Pyrrhic Victories of “House of the Dragon”
Season 3 of the “Game of Thrones” prequel ends with yet more bloodshed—and less of the charm that’s made Westeros worth visiting.
“Tony,” “Late Fame,” and the Rocky Road to Literary Stardom
The protagonists of two films, an Anthony Bourdain bio-pic and a drama about a neglected poet, find themselves struggling with their writerly destinies.
Critics’ Cult Classics: Hanif Abdurraqib on Camp Lo’s “Uptown Saturday Night”
The 1997 album marked a crossroads for hip-hop, as the genre was being torn between elaborate mythmaking and a kind of true crime.
Ryan Murphy’s Sanded-Down Version of “The Shards”
The director’s adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s metafictional thriller-slash-gay-awakening story is a “Glee”-ified version of its source material.
Antonio Banderas’s Acts of Faith
The actor on meeting Stephen Sondheim, staging “Godspell” for the Pope, and the thrill, in the new Anthony Bourdain bio-pic, of playing someone “good.”
When “Get Lucky” Took Me Back to the Years of Disco
The 2013 Daft Punk track was uncannily evocative of the late nineteen-seventies, when I was young and dancing was my creed.
Glen Hansard’s Street-Corner Stories
Both as a young busker and as a famous singer-songwriter, Hansard understood how to make people stop and listen and feel one single thing.
“Furious” Is a Crime Drama for a Post-Epstein World
Elizabeth Meriwether’s new series, which follows a female killer seeking vengeance against a network of abusers, is brutal, nuanced, and, at times, surprisingly funny.