History Will Judge the Complicit
Why have Republican leaders abandoned their principles in support of an immoral and dangerous president?
July/August 2020
In This Issue
Trump’s collaborators, the genius of supermarkets, the looming bank collapse, and unloved children. Plus new fiction by Andrew Martin, the end of minimalism, Big Tech and the plague, Kevin Kwan, Ai Weiwei on the pandemic, Lauren Groff on Florida, and more.
Cover Story
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The Pandemic Shows Us the Genius of Supermarkets
A short history of the stores that—even now—keep us supplied with an abundance of choices
The Looming Bank Collapse
The U.S. financial system could be on the cusp of calamity. This time, we might not be able to save it.
30 Years Ago, Romania Deprived Thousands of Babies of Human Contact
Here’s what’s become of them.
Fiction
Adam DeGross Deep Cut
A short story
Dispatches
Illustration: Katie Martin; I. Glory / Alamy What Trump Should Have Learned From His Predecessors
Presidents who have successfully navigated crises share a key quality.
Lauren Tamaki The Social Codes of the Crazy Rich
How Kevin Kwan celebrates and skewers the ultrawealthy
Asia Pietrzyk The End of Minimalism
Keeping a cluttered house has long been considered a little tacky, a little weak. But now it’s looking very wise.
Jack Davison You’re Showering Too Much
Wash your hands, but lay off the other parts.
Pablo Delcan What Big Tech Wants Out of the Pandemic
The firms are all too eager to help the government manage the coronavirus crisis.
Clay Benskin Summer Days
Street scenes from city life
Culture & Critics
Illustration by Oliver Munday; Eamonn McCabe / Popperfoto / Getty Seamus Heaney’s Journey Into Darkness
In the deepest reaches of history, the poet found a voice for the troubled present.
Marta Monteiro The Dark Soul of the Sunshine State
Why Florida is the way it is
Courtesy of Ai Weiwei Studio Time Has Lost All Meaning
How a pandemic transforms the familiar into the unfamiliar
Rodrigo Corral The Man Who Sacked Rome
Alaric the Goth wanted to be part of the empire. Instead he helped bring it down.
Departments
The Atlantic The Commons: Childhood in an Anxious Age
Readers respond to our May 2020 cover story and more.
Daniel Savage An Ode to Insomnia
How to find solace in sleeplessness
Poetry
Paul Spella / The Atlantic
