The Making of a Molotov Cocktail
Two lawyers, a summer of unrest, and a bottle of Bud Light.
The Radical Vision of Toni Morrison
A profile of the author at 84.
Jenny Kleeman is a journalist, broadcaster and the author of the new book Sex Robots and Vegan Meat: Adventures at the Frontier of Birth, Food, Sex, and Death.
“It’s better to cover one thing in a really illuminating way than to try and explore every single aspect of a topic in a really superficial way. So if there’s one thing that particularly interests you or fascinates you, if there’s just one question you want to ask, do as much research as you can on that one question and you’ll end up with a much more illuminating interview than something that is a precis of their entire field. Because anyone can do that.”
Thanks to Mailchimp for sponsoring this week's episode.
Unraveling the Mystery of a Stolen Ceremonial Shield
How a sacred object from the Pueblo of Acoma turned up at a Paris auction house, and how the tribe fought for its return.
TikTok and the Evolution of Digital Blackface
On the app, users drape themselves in the trappings of Black culture—and steal the viral spotlight. It’s exploitation at its most refined and disturbing.
Fifth Ave, Uptown
A portrait of Harlem.
The Only One in the Room
On Wall Street, being Black often means being alone, held back, deprived of the best opportunities.
Behrouz Boochani Just Wants to Be Free
The refugee and author survived, stateless, for seven years. What’s next?
How Police Unions Fight Reform
Activists insist that police departments must change. For half a century, New York City’s P.B.A. has successfully resisted such demands.
How the Pandemic Defeated America
How did it come to this? A virus a thousand times smaller than a dust mote has humbled and humiliated the planet’s most powerful nation. America has failed to protect its people, leaving them with illness and financial ruin. It has lost its status as a global leader. It has careened between inaction and ineptitude. The breadth and magnitude of its errors are difficult, in the moment, to truly fathom.”
We Quit Our Jobs To Build a Cabin—Everything Went Wrong
Two friends try to make a dream come true.
The Mysterious Life of Birds Who Never Come Down
What the journey of swifts, who spend all their time in the sky, tell us about the future.
What My Mother Didn't Talk About
“My mother and I were very close, but when she died last year there was still so much I didn’t know about her.”
The Simpsons
The story of the family who couldn’t stop adopting.
Beyond Moldy Jam: The Inside Story Of What Went Wrong At Sqirl.
The problems go much deeper than food safety and point to an industry that systematically rewards and enables star chefs while asking few critical questions about the workers who often power their success.
The Panopticon Is Already Here
Xi Jinping is using artificial intelligence to enhance his government’s totalitarian control—and he’s exporting this technology to regimes around the globe.
Theo: Homeless At Age 7
All he wants is his own room and a kitchen where he can bake chocolate cake. He dreams of it while he sleeps in tents in parks and under the freeway.
Fiction Pick of the Week: "And It Goes Running"
The summer of a teenage werewolf.
Can Guaranteed Income Help Americans Escape Poverty?
A pilot program in Mississippi offers a glimpse of the possibilities.
The Worst-Case Scenario
Converging in a tense section of Huntsville: A white police officer fresh from de-escalation training, a troubled black woman with a gun, and a crowd with cellphones ready to record.
Lured to America — Then Trapped
Visas for farmworkers have surged under Trump. But the program has subjected some workers to horrific abuse.
Seyward Darby is the editor-in-chief of The Atavist Magazine and the author of Sisters in Hate: American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism.
“The most enlightening thing I learned in working on this book ultimately was that when we think of hate we think of animosity. Hate means I do not like someone or I do not like something. I deplore it. I despise it. But hate as a movement is actually a lot more like any social movement where it’s providing something to its supporters, members, acolytes that they were seeking but didn’t necessarily know where they were going to find it. So it could be camaraderie, it could be power, it could be purpose, in some cases it could be money. There’s something terrifyingly mundane about that.”
Thanks to Mailchimp for sponsoring this week's episode.
‘Nobody Is Going to Believe You’
The Bohemian Rhapsody director Bryan Singer has been trailed by accusations of sexual misconduct for 20 years. Here, his alleged victims tell their stories.
A Heist on Time and a Half: Inside the Most Corrupt Squad in the Nation
“If you could put your own crew together and rob the biggest drug dealer you know, who would that drug dealer be?”
The Refinery Next Door
African-Americans are 75 percent more likely than others to live near facilities that produce hazardous waste. Can a grass-roots environmental-justice movement make a difference?
