What Medical School Doesn’t Teach About Death
A palliative-care doctor learns the language of suffering and the limits of medical control.
Book Review
John Roberts’s Biggest Test Is Yet to Come
The chief justice writes fiercely conservative opinions, yet champions the Court’s political independence. How will he respond to a constitutional crisis?
The Bitter Origins of the Fight Over Big Government
What the battle between Herbert Hoover and FDR can teach us
Hollywood’s Secret History of Sexuality
David Thomson’s fascinating, and frustrating, tour of gay subversion and female oppression in American movies
Closing the Gulf Between Black and White Christians
In a new book, a black evangelical challenges his white counterparts to take full responsibility for their complicity in racism, and to commit to changing America.
A Bold New Theory Proposes That Humans Tamed Themselves
A leading anthropologist suggests that protohumans became domesticated by killing off violent males.
Wes Anderson Is Under Edward Gorey’s Spell
He was a writer-artist ahead of his time, but Tim Burton, Lemony Snicket, and American culture have finally caught up.
Ghost Wall Explores the Human Cost of Nativist Nostalgia
Sarah Moss’s new novel about Iron Age reenactors could have been a plain Brexit parable. Instead, it’s a deeper exploration of societal cruelty.
French Eroticism Withers in Adèle
With Leïla Slimani’s new novel, a literary genre gets its most joyless installment yet.
A Novel Made for the “Yellow Vest” Moment
Michel Houellebecq’s latest provocation takes aim at the EU.