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The Olympic Games Return to China, in a Changed World
Episode 569
Much has changed since China last hosted the Olympics, during the 2008 Summer Games. Those Games were widely seen as greatly improving China’s intern…
4 years, 7 months ago
Hilton Als and Emma Cline on the Late Joan Didion
Episode 568
Joan Didion tried and failed, she said, “to think”; that is, to write about abstractions and symbols, and make grand arguments in the manner of the N…
4 years, 7 months ago
The Biden Presidency, Year One
Episode 567
President Biden took the oath of office in a moment of deep crisis—the pandemic in full swing and just weeks after an unprecedented attempt to overtu…
4 years, 7 months ago
Nnedi Okorafor on Sci-Fi Through an African Lens
Episode 566
Nnedi Okorafor, a recipient of the prestigious Hugo Award, is a prolific writer of science-fiction and fantasy novels for adults and young adults. Sh…
4 years, 7 months ago
A New Civil War in America?
Episode 565
When rioters, encouraged by the President, stormed the Capitol, one year ago, to overturn the results of the election, the idea that such a thing cou…
4 years, 7 months ago
The Power of Police Unions
Episode 564
The repeal of Section 50-A of the New York State Civil Rights Law was no technical change. Passed in the wake of the George Floyd protests, it was a …
4 years, 7 months ago
Amanda Gorman on Life After Inauguration
Episode 563
One year ago, Amanda Gorman delivered the inaugural poem on the day that Joe Biden became President. Gorman was just twenty-two years old, and it was…
4 years, 7 months ago
For a French Burglar, Stealing Masterpieces Is Easier Than Selling Them
Episode 562
Vjeran Tomic has been stealing since he was a small child, when he used a ladder to break into a library in his home town, in Bosnia. After moving to…
4 years, 8 months ago
Rhiannon Giddens, Americana’s Queen, Goes Global
Episode 561
By the standards of any musician, Rhiannon Giddens has taken a twisting and complex path. Trained as an operatic soprano at the prestigious Oberlin C…
4 years, 8 months ago
When Snow Came to San Juan
Episode 560
For several years in the early nineteen-fifties, Puerto Rico received snow, right around Christmas. Children in San Juan rode a sled and had a giant …
4 years, 8 months ago