The New Yorker

Is Marijuana as Safe as We Think?

Permitting pot is one thing, but promoting its use is another, Malcolm Gladwell writes.

Is Amazon Unstoppable?

Politicians want to rein in the retail giant. But Jeff Bezos, the master of cutthroat capitalism, is ready to fight back, Charles Duhigg writes.

The Age of Instagram Face

Jia Tolentino writes about how social media, FaceTune, and plastic surgery created a single, cyborgian look.

Inside the Cultish Dreamworld of Augusta National

The home of the Masters Tournament is a prelapsarian golf paradise, combining good manners and Southern delights with exclusion and self-satisfaction, Nick Paumgarten writes.

The Maraschino Mogul’s Secret Life

Ian Frazier on how Arthur Mondella’s Brooklyn-based cherry factory, Dell’s Maraschino Cherries, mysteriously turned Red Hook’s bees red, in 2010.

The Legacy of Childhood Trauma

A Personal History by Junot Díaz: I never got any help, any kind of therapy. I never told anyone.

Should We Be Worried About Computerized Facial Recognition?

The technology could revolutionize policing, medicine, even agriculture—but its applications can easily be weaponized, David Owen writes.

How Extreme Weather Is Shrinking the Planet

With wildfires, heat waves, and rising sea levels, large tracts of the earth are at risk of becoming uninhabitable, but the fossil-fuel industry continues its assault on the facts, Bill McKibben writes.

Cairo: A Type of Love Story

Peter Hessler on raising a family during a revolution.

China’s Bizarre Program to Keep Activists in Check

As part of “stability maintenance,” people the state considers troublemakers may be sent to jail—or sent on vacation, Jianying Zha writes.

Are We Already Living in Virtual Reality?

Joshua Rothman reports on virtual-embodiment technology, which is challenging our understanding of who and what we are.

The Psychology of Inequality

Researchers find that much of the damage done by being poor comes from feeling poor.

Why Do We Care So Much About Privacy?

Big Tech wants to exploit our personal data, and the government wants to keep tabs on us. But “privacy” isn’t what’s really at stake, Louis Menand writes.

When Twenty-Six Thousand Stinkbugs Invade Your Home

Kathryn Schulz on a uniquely versatile bug that is decimating crops and infiltrating houses all across the country.

Japan’s Rent-a-Family Industry

People who are short on relatives can hire a husband, a mother, a grandson. The resulting relationships can be more real than you’d expect, Elif Batuman writes.

The Family That Built an Empire of Pain

Patrick Radden Keefe on how the Sackler family and its firm, Purdue Pharma, ruthlessly marketed painkillers to generate billions of dollars—and millions of opioid addicts.

Carl Icahn’s Failed Raid on Washington

Was President Trump’s richest adviser focussed on helping the country—or his own bottom line?

Exploitation and Abuse at the Chicken Plant

Michael Grabell on the exploitation and abuse of immigrant workers at Case Farms chicken plants in Ohio and North Carolina.

How the Elderly Lose Their Rights

Guardians can sell the assets and control the lives of senior citizens without their consent—and reap a profit from it.

What Makes a Parent?

A brutal custody battle between two women raises questions about who has a right to rear a child—and could redefine the legal meaning of family.