The New Yorker
How 3M Discovered, Then Concealed, the Dangers of Forever Chemicals
The corporation learned that many of its products were toxic. Why did it keep making them? Sharon Lerner reports on the scientists who figured out the effects of compounds that don’t break down in nature—and kept their findings secret.
Above the Fold
Essential reading for today.
The Pope Goes Prime-Time
Pope Francis’s appearance on “60 Minutes” is a first. What does it say about the papacy?
What Raisi’s Death Means for the Future of Iran
For a country facing deep challenges, and with an aging Supreme Leader, the President’s demise has spawned an existential question: Who can sustain the revolution?
When the C.I.A. Turned Writers Into Operatives
A new show about the Cold War, “Not All Propaganda Is Art,” reveals the dark, sometimes comic ironies of trying to control the world through culture.
Donald Trump’s Abortion Problem at the Polls
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, G.O.P. efforts to ban abortion have backfired with voters in many states—and they could do so again in November.
Nova Scotia’s Billion-Dollar Lobster Wars
How Indigenous fishermen are defending their rights—and corporate profits—in the most lucrative fishery in North America.
The Political Scene
Donald Trump and Michael Cohen Deserve Each Other
At the former President’s hush-money trial, Trump’s ex-lawyer is using his old boss’s playbook to help the prosecution.
The Fantasy of a 2024 Election Game Changer
With a general-election debate and the ex-President’s criminal verdict looming, can anything move the immovable American electorate?
It’s a Climate Election Now
Trump’s reported billion-dollar offer to fossil-fuel executives shows that this is the key year to save the planet.
The Biden Administration’s Have-It-Both-Ways Report on Gaza
A new assessment, produced by the State Department, found that Israel has likely violated international law—though it doesn’t find a reason to cut off military aid.
Is “Love Is Blind” a Toxic Workplace?
Reality-TV contestants are barely paid, and the experience can feel like abuse. Former cast members of Netflix’s megahit are speaking out—and calling for solidarity.
The Critics
Jerrod Carmichael Finds the Outer Limits of Confessional Comedy
Through an uncanny hybrid of access journalism and fourth-wall breaking, the comedian created an HBO series that was impossible to look away from.
The Anxious Love Songs of Billie Eilish
Much of the artist’s new album, “Hit Me Hard and Soft,” is about wanting a relationship but failing, in some fundamental way, to sustain closeness with another person.
Are Breasts Passé?
Breasts are subject to capricious restrictions and contradictory norms. What would it take to set them free?
Garth Risk Hallberg Takes On the Life-and-Times Novel
The author’s last project was determined to capture the social fabric of an era; in his latest, he shrinks his frame.
The Chilling Truth Pictured in “Here There Are Blueberries”
Moisés Kaufman’s play dramatizes the discovery of a photo album of Nazis at leisure at Auschwitz, and the reckoning it provoked.
How Hindsight Distorts Our View of the Beatles in “Let It Be”
Usually seen as a document of the band’s breakup, the documentary, newly restored by Peter Jackson, is just as much a record of freewheeling inspiration.
What We’re Reading This Week
A novel of earth-shaking attraction and the crises of middle age; a history of female pianists and the cost of pursuing art; a convivial exploration of dog-show culture; and more.
What George Miller Has Learned in Forty-five Years of Making “Mad Max” Movies
In a series of conversations, the director of “Furiosa” explains why silent films have the best action, audiences are seldom wrong, and his wife is always right.
Ideas
Who Wins and Who Loses When We Share a Meme
Two new books by art-world authors explore online shareability and come to different conclusions about what creators stand to gain.
Class Consciousness for Billionaires
We used to think the rich had a social function. What are they good for now?
Blurring the Line Between Money and Media
Hunterbrook, a hybrid media-finance company, wants to monetize investigative journalism in the public interest. Is it a visionary game changer or a cynical ploy?
The Hidden-Pregnancy Experiment
An attempt to hide personal news from online ad trackers makes clear how much surveillance we are engaged in, as both subjects and objects, and how insidious the problem is becoming.
What Asian America Meant to Corky Lee
A new anthology by Chinatown’s omnipresent documentarian, who captured half a century of shifting identities, activism, and daily life.
Did She Do It?
Lucy Letby, a British nurse, was found guilty of killing seven babies. Colleagues reportedly called her an “angel of death,” and the Prime Minister condemned her. But, in the rush to judgment, serious questions about the evidence were ignored.
Puzzles & Games
Take a break and play.
The Precarious Future of Big Sur’s Highway 1
How climate change is threatening one of the country’s most famous roadways.
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