The Magazine
July 28, 2025
Goings On
Goings On
The Sophisticated Kitsch of Blackpink
Also: “The Gospel at Colonus” at Little Island, Golden Age celebrity photos at MOMA, Soledad Barrio’s flamenco at the Joyce, and more.
Photo Booth
Sink or Swim
In Tod Papageorge’s photographs of L.A. beachgoers in the nineteen-seventies and eighties, he transforms formally challenging scrums into theatrical vignettes or semi-abstractions.
The Talk of the Town
Benjamin Wallace-Wells on Jeffrey Epstein; Harlem hitters; D.O.T. and improv; goodbye to all those sheds; the smell of power.
Comment
Behind Trump’s Jeffrey Epstein Problem
The President has tried to blame the Democrats, and, more unexpectedly, he has called those in his base who have asked for a fuller accounting “weaklings” and “stupid.”
Dept. of Masked Men
ICE Agents Invade a Manhattan Little League Field
Youman Wilder has coached local kids for twenty-one years—including four who have gone pro. When masked agents tried to interrogate his players, he told them, “You don’t have more rights than they do.”
D.C. Postcard
“Yes, And” for Downsized Federal Workers
A Washington, D.C., improv theatre invited recently laid-off civil servants to a free workshop. The goals: stay adaptable, and maybe even laugh.
Make It New
Dining Sheds, Repotted
Architects recycle a Brooklyn library’s al-fresco COVID reading room for a public garden.
Sketchpad
Fragrances of Presidents Past
Now that Trump has released his new scent, “Victory 45-47” ($249), it’s time to sniff the competition.
Reporting & Essays
Annals of Disaster
In an Age of Climate Change, How Do We Cope with Floods?
The deaths in the Texas Hill Country are a tragic testament to the force of a raging river. Flood-stricken Vermont has a radical plan to counter the threat it faces.
A Reporter at Large
Mary Had Schizophrenia—Then Suddenly She Didn’t
Some psychiatric patients may actually have treatable autoimmune conditions. But what happens to the newly sane?
The Political Scene
Donald Trump’s Tariff Dealmaker-in-Chief
How Howard Lutnick, the Secretary of Commerce, plans to transform government into a money-making enterprise.
Takes
Takes
Stephen Colbert on Kenneth Tynan’s Profile of Johnny Carson
From Hollywood to the Hasty Pudding, we waft like smoke from an unfiltered Pall Mall through Carson’s worlds, most of which are gone.
Shouts & Murmurs
Shouts & Murmurs
Super-Fun Romantic Sexy Beach Read
A little Proust, a little cancer, but in a light and sexy way. Isn’t melancholy the new quirky?
Fiction
Fiction
“The Chartreuse”
She could feel the mirror shining in her dark bedroom closet. Waiting for the offering.
The Critics
Books
What Will Become of the C.I.A.?
The covert agency has long believed in the power of knowing one’s enemy. But these days the threats are coming from above.
Books
Briefly Noted
“The Strangers,” “The Place of Tides,” “The Girls Who Grew Big,” and “The Scrapbook.”
Books
The First Time America Went Beard Crazy
A sweeping new history explores facial hair as a proving ground for notions about gender, race, and rebellion.
Pop Music
The Sleazy, Unsettling Sounds of Mk.gee
The artist, on tour this summer, makes songs underpinned by feelings of dread and longing.
On Television
The Trophy Abs and Soul Ties of “Love Island USA”
The Peacock reality show, filmed in Fiji, offers a parallel America in which nearly naked contestants attempt to pair up and the audience votes on the winning couple.
The Current Cinema
“Eddington” Is a Lethally Self-Satisfied COVID Satire
In Ari Aster’s dark comedy, Joaquin Phoenix plays the sheriff of a New Mexico town riven by political clashes and pandemic anxieties.
Poems
Cartoons
Puzzles & Games
The Mail
Letters should be sent with the writer’s name, address, and daytime phone number via e-mail to themail@newyorker.com. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium. We regret that owing to the volume of correspondence we cannot reply to every letter.