The Magazine
December 11, 2017
Reporting
Annals of Education
Success Academy’s Radical Educational Experiment
Inside Eva Moskowitz’s quest to combine rigid discipline with a progressive curriculum.
By Rebecca Mead
Profiles
The Mythical Stories in Peter Doig’s Paintings
The artist’s use of figuration and narrative seemed out of date—until the art world decided otherwise.
By Calvin Tomkins
A Reporter at Large
Nicolás Maduro’s Accelerating Revolution
Venezuela’s President has outmaneuvered his opponents. Can he survive an economy in free fall?
By Jon Lee Anderson
Letter from Washington
Michael Flynn’s Guilty Plea Sends Donald Trump’s Lawyers Scrambling
The President insists that the investigations into Russian meddling amount to nothing more than fake news. But the truth is now emerging.
By Jeffrey Toobin
The Critics
A Critic at Large
The Other Susan Sontag
Her essays emanated authority, but her fiction betrayed an aching sense of uncertainty.
By Tobi Haslett
The Art World
Stephen Shore’s Offbeat Sublimities
An immersive and staggeringly charming retrospective of the photographer’s work showcases his easeful acceptance of the world.
By Peter Schjeldahl
On Television
The Live-Streamers Who Are Challenging Traditional Journalism
Webcasters promise transparency and objectivity, but not all views deserve equal time.
By Andrew Marantz
Books
Briefly Noted
“The Last Girl,” “The Collector of Lives,” “Forest Dark,” and “The Time of Mute Swans.”
Musical Events
The Dark Side of the Gold Rush
John Adams’s new opera, “Girls of the Golden West,” is an assault on American mythology.
By Alex Ross
The Current Cinema
The Genre-Fluid Fantasy of “The Shape of Water”
Guillermo del Toro’s new film explores the mutual enchantment of a woman and a mysterious aquatic being.
By Anthony Lane
The Talk of the Town
The Pictures
“Mudbound” Director Dee Rees Cracks the Video-Game Code
Her third feature brought her freedom from student debt and some free time to relax with West of Loathing.
By Tad Friend
Namesake Dept.
When Roy Moore Wore Tights: His Inner Olga Korbut
In the days before his leather-and-cowboy-hat look, Roy Moore was a West Point gymnast in the model of an earlier Roy Moore, “the father of American gymnastics.”
By Charles Bethea
The Boards
Shin Guards and Tampon Talk at Lincoln Center
Sarah DeLappe’s “The Wolves” takes teen-age girl talk to a soccer field at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre.
By Michael Schulman
Dept. of Zzzzs
Mattress-Disruption Spreads to the Nightstand
Casper launches Woolly, a magazine that embraces the hunger for hygge and covers the bedtime beat.
By Anna Russell
Comment
Donald Trump’s “Fake News” Tactics
In attacking the media, the President has in many ways strengthened it.
By Steve Coll
Shouts & Murmurs
Cartoons
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Fiction
Sketchbook
Guess These New York City Elevators
Can you identify the buildings that they belong to?
By Julia Rothman
Poems
Goings On About Town
Bar Tab
Tokyo Record Bar’s Riff on the Speakeasy
Although it’s inspired by the vinyl bars of Japan, this spot chooses accessibility over authenticity.
By Wei Tchou
Tables for Two
Nur’s New Middle East
The Israeli chef Meir Adoni serves his region’s flavors while avoiding the clichés of falafel and baba ghanoush.
By Jiayang Fan
Movies
A Drama of Survival in the East Village
“What About Me” is a hidden masterwork that brings grace and cosmic humor to the grimy streets of eighties New York.
By Richard Brody
Goings On About Town
The Horn Virtuosos of Genghis Barbie
Four female musicians perform holiday tunes both goofy and solemn on the brash but finicky instrument.
Dance
A Film About Loie Fuller’s Art Nouveau Dances
In “The Dancer,” Fuller’s pieces are reconstructed by a scholar and performed by the French actress Soko.
By Joan Acocella
The Mail
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