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Jill Lepore
Jill Lepore, a staff writer, has been contributing to The New Yorker since 2005. Her books include “The Name of War,” which won a Bancroft Prize; “New York Burning,” which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for history; “Book of Ages,” a finalist for the National Book Award; “The Secret History of Wonder Woman”; and the international best-seller “These Truths: A History of the United States.” She is the host of the podcast “The Last Archive” and of the BBC Radio 4 program “Elon Musk: The Evening Rocket.” Her latest book is “The Deadline: Essays.”
Lepore received her Ph.D. in American studies from Yale in 1995, and is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University.
The Hunt for John Wilkes Booth Goes On
“Manhunt,” a new television miniseries, depicts the pursuit of Lincoln’s killer. But the public appetite for tales about the chase began even as it was happening.
Will the Supreme Court Now Review More Constitutional Amendments?
After their ruling on a Fourteenth Amendment case, which keeps Donald Trump on the ballot, will the Justices be willing to revisit Dobbs, or Second Amendment cases?
The Architect of Our Divided Supreme Court
A hundred years ago, Chief Justice William Howard Taft made the Court more efficient and more powerful. His interventions marked a turning point whose effects are still being felt.
What Happened When the U.S. Failed to Prosecute an Insurrectionist Ex-President
After the Civil War, Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy, was to be tried for treason. Does the debacle hold lessons for the trials awaiting Donald Trump?
The World According to Elon Musk’s Grandfather
What happened to antisemitic rants before social media.
How Elon Musk Went from Superhero to Supervillain
Walter Isaacson’s new biography depicts a man who wields more power than almost any other person on the planet but seems estranged from humanity itself.
Watching Childhood End in My Back Yard
For seven years, I helped kids stage a series of silly, madcap musicals. I didn’t realize that it couldn’t last.
Elon Musk’s X Factor
The surprising personal and cultural reasons for his “X” affection and rebranding of Twitter.
The Bear in Your Back Yard
Throughout North America, they’re showing up in unexpected places. Can we coexist?
The View from Inside Beatlemania
In 1964, on the band’s first world tour, Paul McCartney took pictures that have only recently been discovered. What do they show us?
What We Owe Our Trees
Forests fed us, housed us, and made our way of life possible. But they can’t save us if we can’t save them.
The Data Delusion
We’ve uploaded everything anyone has ever known onto a worldwide network of machines. What if it doesn’t have all the answers?
What We Learn from Leafing Through Seed Catalogues
They promise forty-pound beets, rhubarb that tastes like wine, tomatoes that look like stained-glass windows, and world salvation. It doesn’t hurt to dream.
What the January 6th Report Is Missing
The investigative committee singles out Trump for his role in the Capitol attack. As prosecution, the report is thorough. But as historical explanation it’s a mess.
Is Mick Herron the Best Spy Novelist of His Generation?
In his “Slough House” thrillers, the screwups save the day—and there’s a very fine line between comedy and catastrophe.
The Return of the Wild Turkey
In New England, the birds were once hunted nearly to extinction; now they’re swarming the streets like they own the place. Sometimes turnabout is fowl play.
The Case Against the Twitter Apology
Our twenty-first-century culture of performed remorse has become a sorry spectacle.
The United States’ Unamendable Constitution
How our inability to change America’s most important document is deforming our politics and government.
Bringing Back the Woolly Mammoth
Americans have long understood the species’ extinction as a warning. But is trying to “de-extinct” it really a good idea?
The VW Bus Took the Sixties on the Road. Now It’s Getting a Twenty-first-Century Makeover
Once, it sparked dreams of community and counterculture. What’s gained—and lost—when flower power is electrified?
The Hunt for John Wilkes Booth Goes On
“Manhunt,” a new television miniseries, depicts the pursuit of Lincoln’s killer. But the public appetite for tales about the chase began even as it was happening.
Will the Supreme Court Now Review More Constitutional Amendments?
After their ruling on a Fourteenth Amendment case, which keeps Donald Trump on the ballot, will the Justices be willing to revisit Dobbs, or Second Amendment cases?
The Architect of Our Divided Supreme Court
A hundred years ago, Chief Justice William Howard Taft made the Court more efficient and more powerful. His interventions marked a turning point whose effects are still being felt.
What Happened When the U.S. Failed to Prosecute an Insurrectionist Ex-President
After the Civil War, Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy, was to be tried for treason. Does the debacle hold lessons for the trials awaiting Donald Trump?
The World According to Elon Musk’s Grandfather
What happened to antisemitic rants before social media.
How Elon Musk Went from Superhero to Supervillain
Walter Isaacson’s new biography depicts a man who wields more power than almost any other person on the planet but seems estranged from humanity itself.
Watching Childhood End in My Back Yard
For seven years, I helped kids stage a series of silly, madcap musicals. I didn’t realize that it couldn’t last.
Elon Musk’s X Factor
The surprising personal and cultural reasons for his “X” affection and rebranding of Twitter.
The Bear in Your Back Yard
Throughout North America, they’re showing up in unexpected places. Can we coexist?
The View from Inside Beatlemania
In 1964, on the band’s first world tour, Paul McCartney took pictures that have only recently been discovered. What do they show us?
What We Owe Our Trees
Forests fed us, housed us, and made our way of life possible. But they can’t save us if we can’t save them.
The Data Delusion
We’ve uploaded everything anyone has ever known onto a worldwide network of machines. What if it doesn’t have all the answers?
What We Learn from Leafing Through Seed Catalogues
They promise forty-pound beets, rhubarb that tastes like wine, tomatoes that look like stained-glass windows, and world salvation. It doesn’t hurt to dream.
What the January 6th Report Is Missing
The investigative committee singles out Trump for his role in the Capitol attack. As prosecution, the report is thorough. But as historical explanation it’s a mess.
Is Mick Herron the Best Spy Novelist of His Generation?
In his “Slough House” thrillers, the screwups save the day—and there’s a very fine line between comedy and catastrophe.
The Return of the Wild Turkey
In New England, the birds were once hunted nearly to extinction; now they’re swarming the streets like they own the place. Sometimes turnabout is fowl play.
The Case Against the Twitter Apology
Our twenty-first-century culture of performed remorse has become a sorry spectacle.
The United States’ Unamendable Constitution
How our inability to change America’s most important document is deforming our politics and government.
Bringing Back the Woolly Mammoth
Americans have long understood the species’ extinction as a warning. But is trying to “de-extinct” it really a good idea?
The VW Bus Took the Sixties on the Road. Now It’s Getting a Twenty-first-Century Makeover
Once, it sparked dreams of community and counterculture. What’s gained—and lost—when flower power is electrified?