The Magazine
December 1, 2025
Goings On
Goings On
Dev Hynes Returns as Blood Orange
Also: the kamancheh playing of Kayhan Kalhor, Ethan Lipton’s surrealist “The Seat of Our Pants,” our writers’ holiday traditions, and more.
The Food Scene
I’m Donut ? and the Allure of the International Chain
The viral Japanese bakery, now with a location in Times Square, is one of the few imported brands that has broken through to become genuinely hot while maintaining considerable good will.
The Talk of the Town
Ruth Marcus on the D.O.J.’s subservience to Trump; the breaks; a light trance; in accord; Tomorrowland.
Comment
The Justice Department Hits a New Low with the Epstein Files
Not only is the department’s behavior not normal; it is also, as is becoming increasingly clear, self-defeating.
O.G. Dept.
Kurtis Blow, Still Blowing
After the rapper’s 1979 hit “Christmas Rappin’,” his song “The Breaks” was the first rap single to go gold. Now he’s embracing the good ole days with a “Legends of Hip-Hop” concert.
Paris Postcard
In a Sargent Painting, a Vicomtesse Lives On
The great-great-grandmother of Laurent Saint Périer was one of John Singer Sargent’s alluring muses, before she died in a notorious fire. Now Saint Périer visits her portrait in the Musée d’Orsay.
The Boards
What Happens in Kyoto Comes to New York
In 1997, scientists and bureaucrats gathered in Japan to talk about greenhouse-gas emissions. At Lincoln Center, a group of actors rehash all the drama—in front of the original negotiators.
Sketchpad
The World’s Fair That Wasn’t
“Tomorrowland Amerifair,” a previously unpublished piece by the late artist and writer.
Reporting & Essays
Annals of Immigration
Disappeared to a Foreign Prison
The Trump Administration is deporting people to countries they have no ties to, where many are being detained indefinitely or forcibly returned to the places they fled.
The Ancient World
In Northern Scotland, the Neolithic Age Never Ended
Megalithic monuments in the otherworldly Orkney Islands remain a fundamental part of the landscape.
Brave New World Dept.
The Airport-Lounge Wars
When you’re waiting for a flight, what’s the difference between out there and in here?
Letter from Greenland
One of the Greatest Polar-Bear Hunters Confronts a Vanishing World
In the most remote settlement in Greenland, Hjelmer Hammeken’s life style has gone from something that worked for thousands of years to something that may not outlive him.
A Reporter at Large
Can Trump’s Peace Initiative Stop the Congo’s Thirty-Year War?
The President declared a diplomatic triumph. The view from the ground is more complex.
Takes
Takes
Edwidge Danticat on Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl”
The mother in Kincaid’s story is not only trying to tame a shrew; she is offering a template for survival.
Takes
Ariel Levy on Emily Hahn’s “The Big Smoke”
In 1969, the longtime foreign correspondent recalled a youthful adventure in which she moved to China, keen on becoming an opium addict.
Shouts & Murmurs
Shouts & Murmurs
Weak Female Lead
For some reason, I have been voted to be the leader of the uprising against Society in this dystopian Y.A. action movie, but I really just need to lie down.
Fiction
Fiction
“The Golden Boy”
Bayazid had never quite given up the fantasy he nurtured in boyhood, of discovering himself a child of some minister or prince.
The Critics
Books
What Does “Capitalism” Really Mean, Anyway?
In a new global history, capitalism is an inescapable vibe—responsible for everything, everywhere, all at once.
Books
Briefly Noted
“The Tragedy of True Crime,” “Splendid Liberators,” “The Land in Winter,” and “Flop Era.”
Books
Where Dante Guides Us
The Divine Comedy, the poet’s tour of the Christian afterlife, is filled with strikingly modern touches—and a poetic energy rooted in the imperfectly human.
The Theatre
“This World of Tomorrow” and “Oedipus” Dramatize the Power of the Past
Tom Hanks plays a time-travelling tech titan, and Mark Strong and Lesley Manville star in a modern tragedy.
On Television
The Obliging Apocalypse of “Pluribus”
The new sci-fi drama from Vince Gilligan posits an end-of-humanity scenario that everyone other than its protagonist can agree on.
The Current Cinema
“Hamnet” Feels Elemental, but Is It Just Highly Effective Grief Porn?
In Chloé Zhao’s film, adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, the death of a child gives rise to the creation of a literary masterpiece.
Poems
Cartoons
Puzzles & Games
The Mail
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