Category Culture

Catching the Fire Bug

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story Before I left the city for the prairie, I never thought that I might be a pyromaniac. I’d never started a fire outside a hearth, or thrilled at seeing one burning…

A Landmark Look at Family Dysfunction

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story In 1997, the British photographer Richard Billingham published “Ray’s a Laugh,” a landmark book that launched him from a shelf-stacking job at a Birmingham Kwik Save to the art-world stratosphere. The…

IVF—and Its Children—Aren’t Going Away

The Republicans may be acting without principles, but it’s only good politics. When I was 24, my parents sat me down and confessed, with a heavy heart, that due to infertility, I was begotten by a random sperm donor via…

“Burning Man” Aaron Bushnell and the Culture of Death

Americans are underrating the cynicism that has taken hold of the country—if the reaction to a deranged activist’s suicide is any indication. The disturbing images of the U.S. airman Aaron Bushnell lighting himself on fire Sunday outside the Israeli embassy…

DoxyPEP Is a Disaster in Waiting

Fellini’s Satyricon comes to the pages of the New England Journal of Medicine. Credit: sirtravelalot There is a very easy way to eliminate death on the roads: prohibit all traffic. Unfortunately, such a policy would have effects other than the…

Victoria Tentler-Krylov’s “All Clear”

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story The city is full of unexpected sights, but few are more endearing than a row of wobbly preschoolers, holding onto a rope while they walk with their teachers. For the cover…