The Magazine
July 20, 2020
Reporting
Annals of History
How Pandemics Wreak Havoc—and Open Minds
The plague marked the end of the Middle Ages and the start of a great cultural renewal. Could the coronavirus, for all its destruction, offer a similar opportunity for radical change?
The Political Scene
The High-Finance Mogul in Charge of Our Economic Recovery
How Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin became one of the most consequential policymakers in the world.
A Reporter at Large
How Trump Is Helping Tycoons Exploit the Pandemic
The secretive titan behind one of America’s largest poultry companies, who is also one of the President’s top donors, is ruthlessly leveraging the coronavirus crisis—and his vast fortune—to strip workers of protections.
On and Off the Avenue
The Slob-Chic Style of the Coronavirus Pandemic
What to wear when there’s nobody to dress up for except your cat—and Zoom.
The Critics
Books
The Argument of “Afropessimism”
Frank B. Wilderson III sketches a map of the world in which Black people are everywhere integral but always excluded.
Pop Music
Why the Chicks Dropped Their “Dixie”
The all-female country band, which survived an instance of proto-cancel culture for its politics in the past, again wants to meet the current moment.
Books
Briefly Noted
“Stranger in the Shogun’s City,” “The Turnaway Study,” “Hamnet,” and “Interlibrary Loan.”
A Critic at Large
The Invention of the Police
Why did American policing get so big, so fast? The answer, mainly, is slavery.
The Current Cinema
“Palm Springs” and the Comedy of Eternity
Following in the footsteps of “Groundhog Day,” Max Barbakow’s spirited film turns a wedding into Purgatory, with bumbling speeches and so-so canapés on endless repeat.
The Talk of the Town
Jeffrey Toobin on William Barr’s response to protests; the enemy of my enemy; changing of the guard; uncommon front man; flying into the unknown.
Dept. of Policing
A Cop Flipped Him the Bird; He Joined the Police Academy
Keiyon Ramsey’s grandmother told him that Black families should never call the police; now he’s a deputy inspector in the N.Y.P.D., intent on enacting change from within.
On the Hustings
Is Working with the Lincoln Project Sleeping with the Enemy?
Heath Eiden, a video producer who volunteered for Walter Mondale’s campaign as a kid, followed the “enemy-of-my-enemy” principle when he shot the new anti-Trump “Betrayed” ad.
Brave New World
Getting Out of Town Without a Patdown
JSX, a scaled-down air carrier, lets you skip the usual airport indignities. But don’t forget your mask.
Housebound Sound
Jarvis Cocker Asks, “Must I Evolve?”
The Britpop icon and former Pulp front man chats about his thing for caves and his new record, “Beyond the Pale,” which just might have predicted the coronavirus lockdown.
Comment
The Halted Progress of Criminal-Justice Reform
Prosecutors are charging protesters with federal crimes, exposing them to long prison sentences, in another example of the Justice Department’s grotesque overreach under Attorney General William Barr.
Shouts & Murmurs
Shouts & Murmurs
Lexicon for a Pandemic
“Maskhole,” “body Zoom-morphia,” and more neologisms for coronavirus communication.
Cartoons
1/18
“Can’t I just stay here with you and Mom? I don’t like what I’ve seen of the real world.”
Cartoon by Henry Martin
Fiction
Fiction
Jack and Della
Poems
Poems
The Field
Poems
A Stranger
Goings On About Town
Tables for Two
Goldbelly Ships Iconic Restaurant Food to Your Home
The online startup sends meal kits and menu items from beloved restaurants nationwide, from Raoul’s decadent burger au poivre to Veselka’s borscht and pierogi.
Dance
The Fresh Relevance of the Dance on Camera Festival
The festival, now in its forty-eighth year, will stream films including Susan Misner’s “Bend” and Khadifa Wong’s “Uprooted: The Journey of Jazz Dance.”
The Mail
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