Books & Culture

On a mild December day in 1984, a man named Bernie Goetz shot four Black teen-agers on a subway. The incident galvanized the city. Are we still living in its wake?

In the age of A.I., we endlessly debate what consciousness looks like. Can a camera see things more clearly?

The show, a sexy romance between two closeted hockey players, began on a small Canadian streaming platform, but has become a huge, unexpected hit.

How the best-selling author of “People We Meet on Vacation” channelled her love of rom-coms—and her religious upbringing—into a new kind of romance novel.

Recommendations from New Yorker writers.

The New Yorker’s editors and critics choose this year’s essential reads in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.

“Sitting Bull’s War,” “Homeschooled,” “Lightbreakers,” and “Before I Forget.”

If you laugh at unfunny jokes, raise your hand too quickly, or can’t decide on your favorite color, you may be exhibiting a fawn response.

In “All That’s Left of You” and “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” medical emergencies beget agonizing moral conundrums.

Kristen Stewart’s first feature, based on a memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch, packs great emotional power into its boldly original form.

In dramatizing a real-life hostage crisis from 1977, Gus Van Sant teases out enticing themes that remain undeveloped.

In two historical bio-pics, the directors Lav Diaz and Mona Fastvold employ bold formal devices to hold their protagonists at a compelling remove.

With Cove, his fourth restaurant, in Hudson Square, the twenty-seven-year-old wunderkind chef cooks with a new expansiveness.

A pastry as ubiquitous in New York City as pizza or bagels is getting its turn on the higher end.

Our restaurant critic rounds up her favorite menu items from a year of eating out.

The city has vaunted sourdough loaves and endlessly hyped croissants. Diljān, in Brooklyn Heights, brings a classic Afghan flatbread into the mix.

Rachel Sennott, the HBO series’ creator and star, may be a relative newcomer to Los Angeles, but she’s a native of the show’s true setting: the internet.

This year, Hollywood’s decline was evident from its output—but a few great, conversation-starting shows made our critic crave the return of the water cooler.

The comedian’s new HBO series is full of characters who possess their own sparks of madness.

Taylor Sheridan’s oil-industry drama trades in gender stereotypes, reactionary politics, and blatant product placement. Why, then, is it so damn satisfying?

A Broadway revival arrives at a moment when paranoia plots are everywhere.

It’s been the year of Molière, and therefore the year of the liar, the hypocrite, the poseur, the clown.

In a year when the entertainment industry embraced the artificial, extraordinary human acts—from Sarah Snook’s one-woman “Dorian Gray” to Michael B. Jordan’s twin turn in “Sinners”—made their mark.

June Squibb sparkles opposite Cynthia Nixon in a futuristic drama, and Michelle Williams loses her way in Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer Prize winner.

The former teen pop star has become a new emblem of “Veracruz sound.”

Early on, movies had no sound, but musicians provided live accompaniment. The tradition continues.

A list of songs I loved in 2025.

The poet Gabrielle Calvocoressi talks with Kevin Young, The New Yorker’s poetry editor, about their newest collection, “The New Economy,” and poetry’s role in addressing grief.