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Culture
Were the Menendez Murders Justified?
Increasingly, judges are giving lighter sentences to criminals who suffered abuse during childhood. That could be good news for the ‘monster’ brothers.
Esther Haynes
Lauren Sánchez’s Cosmic Bachelorette Party
The plan for America’s first all-female spaceflight was to look good, have a great time, and do a lot of screaming. And honestly? Mission accomplished.
Suzy Weiss
Things Worth Remembering: The Haunting Truth of Dostoyevsky’s Demons
Every movement that burns hot enough will attract opportunists, zealots, and destroyers. Even the most righteous cause can be hollowed out from within.
Benjamin Carlson
Kill Tony, the White Lotus Gift Shop, and Gen Z Surveillance
Tony Hinchcliffe’s new show doesn’t work—here’s why. Also: HBO’s merch play, a new photography exhibit, and how come Gen Z chooses to be watched all the…
Suzy Weiss
Can Video Games Make You a Better Man?
The success of ‘The Last of Us’ and ‘The Witcher 3’ points to a deeper yearning: that the ultimate male fantasy isn’t conquest, but connection, writes…
Aaron Bronfman
Things Worth Remembering: Kids These Days Need The Black Stallion
Children’s books should remind kids that there are rewards for persevering past pain and fear. This is the actual heart of adventure stories, and the…
Larissa Phillips
Love on the Spectrum, Bitter Pop Queens, Studio Ghibli—and More!
Pop stars hate you. Reality television is a spectrum. Forever 21 is dead. Welcome back to Suzy Weiss’s weekly tour of American culture.
Suzy Weiss
In ‘Dying for Sex,’ Men Are Eternally Disappointing
Underlying the much-hyped, brand-new show is a deep pessimism about heterosexual relationships.
Kat Rosenfield
WATCH: Frannie Block Discusses How a Town Turned a Child’s ‘Cry for Help’ Into a Hate Crime
The father of a boy smeared as a racist in 2022 talks to our reporter who broke the story—and tells why he finally spoke out.
The Editors
31M
WATCH: Debating Pronouns with John McWhorter
Why the linguist who critiqued wokeness is now embracing ‘they/them’—and why it will frustrate both the left and right.
Bari Weiss
1HR 1M
What Does the New Right Want?
You can’t understand policymaking without ideology. And you can’t understand the Trump White House without understanding this burgeoning movement.
Noah Smith
Things Worth Remembering: Abigail Shrier on When Harry Met Sally
‘When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.’
Abigail Shrier
‘Snow White,’ Woke Preppers, David Blaine—and More!
Welcome to a new Free Press culture column from Suzy Weiss.
Suzy Weiss
How One Town Turned a Child’s ‘Cry For Help’ Into a Hate Crime
After three nooses were found in a bush in Evanston, Illinois, two children were vilified as racist. A family was driven out of their home. Now, over…
Frannie Block
Jonathan Haidt: Taking Back Childhood from Phones—Finally
Americans don’t agree about anything. Except this: Kids belong in the real world.
Jonathan Haidt and Zach Rausch
Fight Club: Does Baseball Suck?
Is the sport still a national treasure, or has it gone the way of rotary phones and dial-up internet? Batter up.
Joe Nocera and Will Rahn
No, Jackie Robinson Was Not a DEI Hire
Corporate diversity policy is a 21st-century invention, not a continuation of the civil rights struggle. Stop pretending otherwise.
Freddie deBoer
The Postal Service Doesn’t Exist to Make Money
There are places in rural America where Amazon won’t deliver and FedEx won’t tread. The USPS doesn’t make money serving them—but that’s not the point.
River Page
What 23andMe Told America About Itself
The disintegration of the DNA-testing company is not just the collapse of a business. It’s the collapse of a culture obsessed with identity.
Kat Rosenfield
‘Adolescence’ Does a Disservice to Young Men
The new Netflix show is supposed to help counter toxic masculinity. Instead, it’ll exacerbate it.
Madeleine Kearns
Letters to the Editor: Two Personal Perspectives on Shaken Baby Syndrome
Plus: A tip from the great Thomas Mallon on filing expenses in the glory days of magazines.
The Free Press
When Did Men Get So Vain?
Trump thinks he looks bad in a portrait. Male influencers are doing six-hour morning routines. When did men get so obsessed with how they look?
Suzy Weiss
The New York Times and the Case of the Missing Knife
When the cops recently shot a man in the New York subway, the media portrayed it as a classic police injustice. It was anything but.
Mike Pesca
Two Christians Made a Show about Jews. It’s Phenomenal.
‘House of David’ is a beautiful corrective to a lie that’s seeped into American culture: that Christians see Jews as enemies.
Batya Ungar-Sargon
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