Masterpieces of the New Deal
Critics wrote the work off as kitsch for the masses. But a set of murals celebrating Social Security—now threatened with destruction—show that such sweeping judgments went too far.
Judith Shulevitz
Judith Shulevitz is a staff writer at The Atlantic. She has been a columnist for The New York Times Book Review, Slate, New York magazine, and The New Republic. She was a founding editor of Slate and Lingua Franca, and a senior editor at New York and The New Republic. Her book, The Sabbath World, was a New York Times notable book, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award, and a recipient of the American Library Association’s award for Jewish literature. She is working on a book for the Yale Jewish Lives series.
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U.S. General Services Administration The Ghosts of Toni Morrison
In a new study, Namwali Serpell describes how the novelist located the missing stories of Black America.
Jill Krementz Take a Close Look at Trump’s Portrait
The National Portrait Gallery removed key details from the caption beside the president’s photograph. It still has a story to tell.
Rod Lamkey Jr. / AP There Were Two Charlie Kirks
A new book by the right-wing activist, who was murdered in September, has moments of seriousness, beauty, and cross-partisan appeal.
Illustration by Paul Spella / The Atlantic. Sources: Andrew Harnik / Getty; MirageC / Getty. The Judgments of Muriel Spark
The novelist liked playing God—a very capricious one.
Illustration: Louise Zergaeng Pomeroy. Sources: Edoardo Fornaciari / Getty; Evening Standard / Getty. What to Make of Miracles
In a new book, Elaine Pagels searches for the narrative origins of Jesus’s most wondrous acts.
Illustration by Liz Hart. Source: Alamy. The Last Great Yiddish Novel
Chaim Grade’s Sons and Daughters rescues a destroyed world.
Archives of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, New York Where Han Kang’s Nightmares Come From
In her novels, the South Korean Nobel laureate returns again and again to her country’s bloody past.
Illustration by Sophia Deng Michel Houellebecq Has Some Fresh Predictions. Be Afraid.
In a new novel, France’s famously abrasive author progresses from barbed satire to a spiritual-conversion narrative.
Joel Saget / AFP / Getty The Israeli Artist Who Offends Everyone
Long a fearless critic of Israel, Zoya Cherkassky-Nnadi has made wrenching portraits of her nation’s suffering since October 7.
© Zoya Cherkassky. Courtesy of the artist and Fort Gansevoort, New York.
