The Magazine
June 29, 2020
Reporting
The Political Scene
What Fiona Hill Learned in the White House
The senior fellow at Brookings and expert on modern Russia had hoped to guide the U.S.-Russia relationship. President Trump had other ideas.
Letter from Israel
In Search of King David’s Lost Empire
The Biblical ruler’s story has been told for millennia. Archeologists are still fighting over whether it’s true.
Annals of Medicine
The Promise and the Peril of Virtual Health Care
During the coronavirus pandemic, telemedicine looks like the future of health care. Is it a future that we want?
Personal History
My Mother’s Dreams for Her Son, and All Black Children
She longed for black people in America not to be forever refugees—confined by borders that they did not create and by a penal system that killed them before they died.
The Critics
Books
Frank Kameny’s Orderly, Square Gay-Rights Activism
An astronomer for the Army Map Service was an unlikely, but crucial, combatant for erotic freedom.
A Critic at Large
The Lockdown Lessons of “Crime and Punishment”
A college class weathering the pandemic finds Dostoyevsky’s savage inwardness and apocalyptic feverishness uncomfortably resonant.
Books
Briefly Noted
“Death in Her Hands,” “The Taste of Sugar,” “Prophetic City,” and “The Price of Peace.”
The Current Cinema
“Mr. Jones” Remembers When Stalin Weaponized Famine
The horrors of the Holodomor, in which millions of Ukrainians starved, are dramatized, but not inflated, in Agnieszka Holland’s new film.
The Talk of the Town
Jelani Cobb on the significance of Juneteenth; birding while black; any questions?; the real Shirley Jackson; the Mooch shouts out.
Georgia Postcard
Corina Newsome and the Black Birders Movement
The wildlife conservationist, whose field site, in Georgia, is down the road from where Ahmaud Arbery was killed, helped organize #BlackBirdersWeek after a white woman called the cops on a black birdwatcher in Central Park.
Second Career Dept.
From the Trump White House to Fox News to . . . the Cameo App?
Anthony Scaramucci, Sebastian Gorka, and Sean Spicer used to be mouthpieces for the President. Now they’re mouthpieces for anyone who can pay them.
The Pictures
Shirley Jackson’s Son Talks to His Fictional Mom, Elisabeth Moss
According to Laurence Jackson Hyman, viewers of the new film “Shirley,” which stars Moss as the “Haunting of Hill House” author, “will certainly leave thinking that my mother was a crazy alcoholic.”
Don’t Kiss That Baby
How to Run a Grassroots Campaign in a Pandemic
Lindsey Boylan, the thirty-six-year-old progressive who is running for Congress against Jerry Nadler, can’t knock on doors, shake voters’ hands, or kiss any babies. Can she still win?
Comment
Juneteenth and the Meaning of Freedom
Emancipation is a marker of progress for white Americans, not black ones.
Cartoons
1/15
“The hardest thing to do is to forgive yourself, and I’ve done that, so I don’t know why you can’t forgive me, too.”
Cartoon by Barbara Smaller
Fiction
Poems
Goings On About Town
Night Life
HAIM’s Carefree and Comfortable New Album
“Women in Music Pt. III” gives the impression that the three sisters recorded it while lounging in the breeze.
Tables for Two
New York City’s Cornucopia of Bread to Go
Rye ficelles from Bien Cuit, bâtards and miches from She Wolf, a speakeasy-style bakery with cardamom buns on demand, and more reasons to ditch your sourdough starter.
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.
Daily Cartoon
Daily Cartoon: Friday, April 26th
“We’re not giving him a free pass to do whatever he wants—we’re buying him time to so he can get elected and then do whatever he wants.”
“We’re not giving him a free pass to do whatever he wants—we’re buying him time so he can get elected and then do whatever he wants.”
Cartoon by Ivan Ehlers
The Theatre
“Stereophonic” and “Cabaret” Turn Up the Volume on Broadway
David Adjmi’s cult-hit play features seventies-inspired rock songs by Will Butler, while Eddie Redmayne presides over a demonic version of the Kit Kat Club.
Secret Ingredients
How to Season Your Food Like the French
I didn’t really know what black pepper was until I lived in Lyon.
On and Off the Avenue
Spoiler Alert: Leftovers for Dinner
How to host a dinner party for nine using a pre-trash haul from Too Good to Go and other food-waste apps. Carb-averse guests, beware.
Goings On
Teresita Fernández’s Shifting Sculptural Landscapes
Also: Kamasi Washington, “The Outsiders” reviewed, Bang on a Can’s Long Play Festival, and more.
Fault Lines
Could “Mind the Game” Change the Way Sports Are Covered?
The podcast, co-hosted by J. J. Redick and LeBron James, combines analytical commentary with an insider’s perspective—and bypasses traditional media.
Letter from Biden’s Washington
King Donald’s Day at the Supreme Court
A political hit job? A military coup? Trump’s lawyer tests the boundaries of a truly imperial Presidency.
“Why is there a customer-service associate standing by to assist us?”
Cartoon by Michael Maslin
“Why is there a customer-service associate standing by to assist us?”
A New Yorker Cartoon
Cartoon by Roz Chast
A New Yorker Cartoon
“I need, like, a million little sticks.”
Cartoon by Tyson Cole
“I need, like, a million little sticks.”
A New Yorker Cartoon
“Rob, this is not the time to show off your chin-ups.”••
Cartoon by Joe Dator
“Rob, this is not the time to show off your chin-ups.”••
A New Yorker Cartoon
News Desk
What Harvey Weinstein’s Overturned Conviction Means for Donald Trump’s Trial
The legal issue behind Weinstein’s successful appeal is also at the heart of the former President’s hush-money case.
Daily Comment
The Biden Administration’s Plan to Make American Homes More Efficient
New building codes from the Department of Housing and Urban Development are the latest addition to a long list of Earth Week environmental wins for the White House.
The New Yorker Food Scene Newsletter
Plus: why you can’t get a table; a Martini tour of New York City; and more from the Food Issue.
The New Yorker News & Politics newsletter
Plus: Joseph Stiglitz and the meaning of freedom; inside the student protests at Columbia and Yale; and scenes from the Trump trial.