The Atlantic Out Loud

He was denounced by rebel propagandists as a tyrant and remembered by Americans as a reactionary dolt. Who was he really? By Rick Atkinson From the November 2025 issue. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone....

The Thrilla in Manila nearly killed Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. By Vann R. Newkirk II From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠October 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How a kid from Long Island willed his way to the top of American comedy By Adrienne LaFrance From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠October 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Obsolete (adj.): no longer in use or no longer useful By Stefan Fatsis From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠October 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Forty years after Spinal Tap, history’s most hapless band turns it up to 11 one last time. By James Parker From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠October 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a new memoir, Susan Cheever searches for the wellspring of her father’s genius. By Adam Begley From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠October 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The tidiest explanation for the pop star’s success is that she befriended an underestimated audience of girls and young women. That’s only part of the story. By Spencer Kornhaber From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠October 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news....

Israel and the United States delivered a blow to Iran. But it could come back stronger. By Graeme Wood From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠October 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A thousand years ago, Murasaki Shikibu wrote The Tale of Genji, the world’s first novel. Who was she? By Lauren Groff From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠October 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoic...

A Letter to America’s Discarded Public Servants By William J. Burns From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠October 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The country gave its citizens the right to die. Doctors are struggling to keep up with demand. By Elaina Plott Calabro From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠September 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoi...

The novelist liked playing God—a very capricious one. By Judith Shulevitz From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠September 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 17th-century painter Rachel Ruysch was once more famous than Vermeer. By Zachary Fine From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠September 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What home meant before, and after, Hurricane Katrina By Clint Smith From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠September 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the greatest musicians of the 1970s needed an instrument—or a friend—my dad was there. By Nancy Walecki From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠September 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The pilot who calms the nerves of anxious fliers By Elaine Godfrey From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠September 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sudan’s devastating civil war shows what will replace the liberal order: anarchy and greed. By Anne Applebaum From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠September 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Virginia Woolf’s wild run of creativity in her 40s included writing her masterpiece on the terrors and triumphs of middle age. By Hillary Kelly From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠September 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices....

A new book describes the challenges and joys of life as a letter carrier. By Tyler Austin Harper From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠September 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The institution has adapted, and is showing new signs of resilience. By Brad Wilcox From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠September 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The agency once projected America’s loftiest ideals. Then it ceded its ambitions to Elon Musk. By Franklin Foer From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠September 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’re trying to find someone who doesn’t want to be found, you don’t go to the obvious places. By Honor Jones From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠September 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why did Google’s supposedly teen-friendly chatbot say it wanted to tie me up? By Lila Shroff From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠August 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Hollywood taught a generation to fear nuclear catastrophe By Tom Nichols From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠August 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Joseph Kurihara lost his faith in America By Andrew Aoyama From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠August 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices