The Magazine
May 27, 2019
Reporting
A Reporter at Large
The Undercover Fascist
A young Englishman got mixed up in a white-supremacist movement. Then he learned of a plot to kill a politician.
Personal History
Losing Religion and Finding Ecstasy in Houston
Christianity formed my deepest instincts, and I have been walking away from it for half my life.
Profiles
David Milch’s Third Act
Despite what dementia has stolen from the cerebral creator of “Deadwood,” it has given his work a new sense of urgency.
Letter from Montreal
Joe Beef and the Excesses of Restaurant Culture
What happens when the chefs behind North America’s most hedonistic restaurant quit drinking.
The Critics
Musical Events
The Shed Attempts to Inject Culture Into Hudson Yards
How will the new arts venue consort with the capitalist behemoth surrounding it?
The Theatre
Emotional Malnourishment in “Curse of the Starving Class”
The playwright Sam Shepard’s matter-of-fact observations about where his characters stand in the world tell us so much about the world they inhabit.
Books
The Troubled History of Psychiatry
Challenges to the legitimacy of the profession have forced it to examine itself, including the fundamental question of what constitutes a mental disorder.
Books
Briefly Noted
“The Flight Portfolio,” “Dawson’s Fall,” “Women’s War,” and “Democracy and Truth.”
Pop Music
Rammstein’s Heavy and Cathartic Camp
By condensing Germany’s history into a parade of horrors, the hardcore band is lampooning the country’s delicate and complex relationship with its own past.
The Art World
The Whitney Biennial in an Age of Anxiety
With scarce exceptions, the mostly youthful artists gravitate to identity or otherwise communitarian politics and familiar modes of art.
The Current Cinema
Olivia Wilde’s “Booksmart” Swerves Aside from Expectations
The film’s director and her all-female squad of screenwriters will not be satisfied with the formulas that govern the high-school movie.
The Talk of the Town
The Out-Of-Towners
The Crisis Called for Goats
The Riverside Park Conservancy has hired a herd of twenty-four to chew their way through a hillside of poison ivy and other invasive species.
Rag Trade
Adaptive Fashion on the Red Carpet
The actress and disability-rights advocate Lauren (Lolo) Spencer is headed to Cannes in her wheelchair to promote her film “Give Me Liberty,” with help from a specialized stylist.
The Campaign Trail
The Teen Who Thwarted Bill de Blasio’s Presidential Announcement
How Gabe Fleisher, a high-school junior in St. Louis, got the scoop that forced the New York City mayor’s campaign team to rejigger its strategy.
Homecoming
Is Mac DeMarco Growing Up?
Still mourning the death of his friend Mac Miller and nursing a two-day hangover, the yacht-rock guitarist dropped by “The Tonight Show” and reflected on Michael McDonald, Volvos, and bone broth.
Comment
The Abortion Fight and the Pretense of Precedent
State legislators have proposed Draconian new laws on the assumption that, when they come before the Supreme Court, they will be used to vanquish Roe v. Wade once and for all.
Shouts & Murmurs
Shouts & Murmurs
23 and Him
Cartoons
1/12
“Let’s try one without smiling.”
Fiction
Fiction
Ross Perot and China
Poems
Goings On About Town
Dance
Summer Dance Preview
The classical ballet of “The Sleeping Beauty,” a visit from the Royal Danish Ballet, minimalism in the Berkshires, and more.
Art
Summer Art Preview
Mrinalini Mukherjee’s fibre-rich sculptures, moon shots at the Met, Maurice Sendak’s “Wild Things” at the Morgan, and more.
Tables for Two
Van Da’s Tour of Vietnamese Delicacies
Led by two female chefs, the East Village restaurant offers creative bites and traditional dishes that don’t normally travel abroad.
Dance
DanceAfrica’s Focus on Healing Through Tradition
This year’s festival, at BAM, features a spirited Rwandan troupe and a Brooklyn-based ensemble, to emphasize Rwanda’s recovery from the country’s genocide.
Night Life
Summer Night-Life Preview
Rising temperatures allow for the pleasures of outdoor concerts, such as Governors Ball, Summer Jam, SummerStage, and more.
Movies
Summer Movies Preview
Familiar intellectual property prevails in “Shaft,” “Men in Black: International,” “Spider-Man: Far from Home,” and more.
The Theatre
Summer Theatre Preview
The Public’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” a new musical adaptation of “Moulin Rouge!,” cultural cross-pollination at the Shed, and more.
Classical Music
Summer Classical-Music Preview
New York City Opera’s political première of “Stonewall,” a legacy revisited at the Chelsea Music Festival, and more.
The Mail
Letters should be sent with the writer’s name, address, and daytime phone number, via e-mail, to themail@newyorker.com. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium. We regret that, owing to the volume of correspondence, we cannot reply to every letter.