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The New Yorker

Books & Culture

Infinite Scroll

The Dada Era of Internet Memes

How the viral TikToks of a Chinese glycine factory elucidate our increasingly chaotic digital environment.
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Infinite Scroll

The Internet’s New Favorite Philosopher

Byung-Chul Han, in treatises such as “The Burnout Society” and his latest, “The Crisis of Narration,” diagnoses the frenetic aimlessness of the digital age.
The New Yorker Interview

How to Publish a Magazine in a Maximum-Security Prison

For decades, Wilbert Rideau investigated America’s prison system—from the inside.
Persons of Interest

The Heart of Low

Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker’s marriage was one of the most extraordinary collaborations in rock. Now, a year and a half after Parker’s death, Sparhawk is back on the road.
Cultural Comment

John Cazale’s Barbaric Squawk

He was Hollywood’s master of the everyday, an actor who looked, felt, and even squealed like one of us.

Books

Annals of Gastronomy

Mastering the Art of Making a Cookbook

Working with Julia Child and a host of author-chefs, the editor Judith Jones transformed American kitchens.
Under Review

The Best Books We’ve Read in 2024 So Far

Our editors and critics review notable new fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
Under Review

Why We Choose Not to Eat

Can the decision to forgo food be removed from the gendered realm of weight-loss culture?
Page-Turner

Fifteen Essential Cookbooks

The kitchen guides that New Yorker writers and editors can’t do without.

Movies

The Front Row

“Civil War” Is a Tale of Bad News

Alex Garland’s grim political fantasy about secession and violence revolves around a war photographer but has little to say about the making and consumption of news images.
Director’s Commentary

Julio Torres on the Rocky Relationship That Drives “Problemista”

The director dissects a key scene that establishes the dynamic between his character, who is embroiled in the U.S.’s immigration systems, and Tilda Swinton’s “temperamental art-world lady,” down to the meanings of their hair styles.
The Front Row

The Rediscovery of a Depression-Era Masterpiece

A new restoration of Frank Borzage’s “Man’s Castle,” starring Loretta Young and Spencer Tracy, showcases the visionary Hollywood director’s lusty yet spiritual artistry.
Culture Desk

Can a Film Star Be Too Good-Looking?

Alain Delon and the problem of beauty.

Food

Photo Booth

When Babies Rule the Dinner Table

In the past two decades, American parents have started to ditch the purées and give babies more choice—and more power—at mealtime. 
The Food Scene

The Return, Again, of the Power Lunch

Four Twenty Five, a luxe new dining room from the mega-restaurateur Jean-Georges Vongerichten, takes square aim at the expense-account crowd.
The Food Scene

Mexican-ish Fine Dining, with Detours

Corima offers attention-grabbing tortillas, Japanese flourishes, and an ambitious tasting menu that hasn’t quite found its stride.
On and Off the Menu

In the Kitchen with the Grande Dame of Jewish Cooking

Any home cook who’s hosted a Passover Seder or a Rosh Hashanah dinner has likely consulted a recipe by Joan Nathan.
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Photo Booth

In Justine Kurland’s Photographs, a Mother and Son Hit the Road

Some of the portraits in “This Train” have an Edenic quality to them, as if Kurland is asking: What if my kid and I were the only two people in the world?

Television

On Television

“The Sympathizer” Has an Identity Crisis

The HBO adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel is part espionage thriller, part war drama, and part Hollywood satire—wild genre shifts that come at the expense of its protagonist’s interiority.
On Television

“Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show” Is Exhibitionism as Art

Two years after “Rothaniel,” the comedian has committed another moving—and deeply entertaining—act of self-exposure.
On Television

“In the Know,” a Promising Satire of NPR That Never Quite Tunes In

The stop-motion comedy from Zach Woods, Brandon Gardner, and Mike Judge lacks the zingy acuity of its creators’ best work.
On Television

The Dark Delights of a Millennial “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”

Donald Glover and Maya Erskine star as spies-for-hire posing as husband and wife—and embody their generation’s emotional and economic malaise.

The Theatre

The Theatre

Ralph Fiennes Sidles His Way Into Power as Macbeth

A hit British production of Shakespeare’s ever-timely tragedy arrives in D.C.
Postscript

Christopher Durang’s Stage Directions for Life

The Tony-winning playwright’s dark, antic satires were many people’s gateway to theatre. I was one of those people.
The Theatre

The Avant-Garde Is Back on the Launchpad

The Wooster Group gives the Richard Foreman play “Symphony of Rats” its signature spins.
The Theatre

“The Who’s Tommy” Plays the Old Pinball

The 1993 musical’s already bizarre story, derived from Pete Townshend’s beautiful 1969 album, is even less clear in Des McAnuff’s reanimation for Broadway.

Music

Pop Music

The Tortured Poetry of Taylor Swift’s New Album

“The Tortured Poets Department” has moments of tenderness. But it suffers from being too long and too familiar.
Pop Music

Olivia Rodrigo’s Relatable Superstardom on the Guts Tour

The pop star appears to revel in pleasure—even when she knows that whatever it is she’s thirsting after will probably get her into trouble.
Pop Music

Vampire Weekend Doesn’t Want Your Defeatist Grousing

The band’s new album, “Only God Was Above Us,” is a treatise on inheritance, decay, generational dissonance, and the delicate idea of choosing optimism.
The New Yorker Radio Hour

Alicia Keys Returns to Her Roots with Her New Musical, “Hell’s Kitchen”

In her musical opening on Broadway, Keys tells a story very much like her own life—but don’t call it autobiographical. Plus, Rhiannon Giddens on the Black roots of country music.

More in Culture

Annals of Gastronomy

In Search of Lost Flavors in Flushing

Rediscovering the tastes of childhood in New York’s biggest Chinatown.
Annals of Gastronomy

A Martini Tour of New York City

My month of vermouth-rinsing and fat-washing.
Screening Room

Flirtation and Confrontation in “Sparring Partner”

In J. J. Kandel’s short film, the lunch-break banter of a flirtatious pair of co-workers, played by Cecily Strong and KeiLyn Durrel Jones, gives way to uncomfortable revelations.
Secret Ingredients

The Unexpected Hero of My Baking Repertoire

Cakes that usually come at you two-fisted—pure butter and sugar—begin to relax when you swap some of the usual white-wheat flour for buckwheat.
The Current Cinema

Love Means Nothing in Tennis but Everything in “Challengers”

Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist sustain a three-way rally of romance in Luca Guadagnino’s almost absurdly sexy sports film.
Profiles

Padma Lakshmi Walks Into a Bar

Since leaving “Top Chef,” Lakshmi has found herself in a period of professional uncertainty. What better time to try standup comedy?
Secret Ingredients

The Most Treasured Jar in My Pantry

There is nothing “plain” about vanilla when your extract is home-brewed.
Essay

The Haiti That Still Dreams

The country is being defined by disaster. What would it mean to tell a new story?
The Current Cinema

American Confinement in “We Grown Now” and “Stress Positions”

A crisis turns home into a place of constraint in two new independent features.