The Magazine
August 4, 2025
Goings On
Goings On
Summer Is the Time for Off Broadway Comedy
Also: Superheroic sentimentality in “The Fantastic Four,” the popular crowd goes down in “Heathers: The Musical,” the arcane mythology of Lord Huron, and more.
The Food Scene
Next-Level Vietnamese at Bánh Anh Em
The new restaurant, near Union Square, offers hard-to-find regional dishes. But you’ll have to wait in line.
The Talk of the Town
Amy Davidson Sorkin on when SCOTUS is wrong; prop masters for the parade; couture emergencies; serving up Alice B. Toklas; açai for an Everyman.
Comment
What to Do When the Supreme Court Rules the Wrong Way
The blows have been coming weekly, as Trump tries to ransack the Constitution. Yet recent Court history shows that what feels like the end can be a beginning.
Make-Believe Dept.
Trump’s Birthday Parade Was a Hollywood Job
When the reality-TV President needed to outfit his martial procession, organizers turned to props once used by Mel Gibson, Paul Giamatti, and a Dodge car commercial.
Rome Postcard
Dolce & Gabbana’s Spartacus Moment
Fresh from trussing Lauren Sánchez for her Venetian wedding, the designing duo hit Rome for their annual Alta Moda couture extravaganza.
The Literary Life
The Joy of Cooking (for Gertrude Stein)
To launch her new biography of the often impenetrable author, Francesca Wade presided over a literary feast devised by Alice B. Toklas.
The Pictures
From “I, Tonya” to Chris Farley, Pound by Pound
Need a meaty, cloddish, yet affable Everyman who can act? Paul Walter Hauser knows how to own the body type.
Reporting & Essays
Dept. of Labor
“No Tax on Tips” Is an Industry Plant
Trump’s “populist” policy is backed by the National Restaurant Association—probably because it won’t stop establishments from paying servers below the minimum wage.
Annals of Inquiry
The Vatican Observatory Looks to the Heavens
It’s run by a Michigan-born Jesuit—and a meteorite expert—known as the Pope’s Astronomer.
Letter from Israel
Israel’s Zones of Denial
Amid national euphoria over the bombing of Iran—and the largely ignored devastation in Gaza—a question lurks: What is the country becoming?
A Reporter at Large
Mexico’s Molar City Could Transform My Smile. Did I Want It To?
More than a thousand dentists have set up shop in Los Algodones. Their patients are mostly Americans who can’t afford the U.S.’s dental care.
Takes
Takes
Bill McKibben on Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring”
Her reporting was quickly attacked by the industry she called into question, setting the playbook for companies that profited from tobacco, opioids, and fossil fuels.
Shouts & Murmurs
Shouts & Murmurs
“Emma” Unrated
In which Jane Austen’s Miss Emma Woodhouse is bestirred by “Jackass” ’s Mr. Knoxville upon his presentation of a “Fire-Hose Rodeo.”
Fiction
Fiction
“The Bridge Stood Fast”
These are the things that change a child, he thought, but what can you do?
The Critics
A Critic at Large
Was the Renaissance Real?
We celebrate the period as a golden age of cultural rebirth. But two new books argue that the Renaissance, as we imagine it, is little more than myth.
Books
Briefly Noted
“Moderation,” “Via Ápia,” “Misbehaving at the Crossroads,” and “The Key to Everything.”
Books
What We Miss When We Talk About the Racial Wealth Gap
Six decades of civil-rights efforts haven’t budged it, and the usual prescriptions—including reparations—offer no lasting solutions. Have we been focussing on the wrong things?
On and Off the Menu
L.A.’s Food Culture, Transformed by Immigration Raids
The city is defined by street carts and family-run restaurants. ICE’s vicious campaign has prompted many venders and patrons to stay home.
The Theatre
Williams in Williamstown
Jeremy O. Harris, at his first Williamstown Theatre Festival as creative director, turns up the heat under rare works by the great Southern playwright.
Poems
Poems
“Bob Marley, Live, 1980”
“In Kingston after the storm, the yard / cools, the grass slippery underfoot, / leaves dripping—the air heavy with fatigue.”
Cartoons
Puzzles & Games
The Mail
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