After a certain point, the sensation of emergency simply becomes like the wind and the rain—part of our normal weather pattern. In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending a nearly fifty-year-old legal precedent that protected the right to abortion. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, in February, brought calamity to more than forty million civilians, and, as the conflict ground on, made the once far-fetched scenario of nuclear war increasingly plausible. The midterm elections, in November, felt like a test of American democracy. It survived, for now, but our politics still feel combustible. Donald Trump is enfeebled and under federal investigation, but he is running for President, again. The rancor and resentment that birthed his Presidency remain as potent as ever.
The most popular New Yorker stories published in 2022 reflected the anxieties of the moment. (Once again, the rankings are based on our internal tracking of which pieces people read on their way to subscribing.) Jia Tolentino’s essay about the widespread criminalization of pregnancy in a post-Roe world topped the list. The New Yorker was one of only a few news organizations with a writer—Stephania Taladrid—inside an abortion clinic at the moment the court announced its decision. Her dispatch, which captures the anguish and confusion of women in a waiting room in Houston, made the list, as did a column by Jill Lepore on Justice Samuel Alito’s misreading of the Constitution. Three deeply reported stories about the Supreme Court itself were also in the top twenty-five: Jane Mayer’s investigation of the activism of Ginni Thomas, Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife, and a pair of Profiles, by Margaret Talbot, of Alito and his fellow conservative justice Amy Coney Barrett.
2022 in Review
New Yorker writers reflect on the year’s highs and lows.
Andrew Solomon’s sensitively rendered examination of the rise in child suicides felt of a piece with the unsettledness of the world around us. Childhood, more broadly, emerged as a theme on this year’s list, with Jessica Winter’s skeptical essay about the child-rearing philosophy known as “gentle parenting,” and Joshua Rothman’s exploration of how much of our personality is set in our early years.
Coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine was amply represented, including interviews conducted by David Remnick and Isaac Chotiner, as well as reporting by Masha Gessen on worried Russians fleeing their homeland. During 2022, Trump maintained his hold on our attention, and Susan B. Glasser and Peter Baker’s deeply reported account of the clashes between the forty-fifth President and his generals was among our top ten stories of the year.
At the same time, news fatigue has become an unignorable phenomenon, helping explain declining digital traffic across the industry. Perhaps as a result, plenty of our most popular pieces were completely unmoored from current events. Often, they were stories that just reached out and grabbed readers. Two examples: Rachel Aviv’s feature on the arresting saga of Mackenzie Fierceton, whose Rhodes Scholarship was revoked after the University of Pennsylvania accused her of lying, and Lauren Collins’s true-crime tale about the unravelling of an expert on serial killers. Anna Holmes’s portrait of the extravagant, unorthodox, and pathbreaking life of the children’s-book author Margaret Wise Brown, of “Goodnight Moon” fame, proved similarly irresistible.
Levity made plenty of appearances on the list. Patricia Marx offered a rollicking guide to decluttering. There was a Daily Shouts, by Nicole Rose Whitaker, explaining your personality based on your annoying household habits. David Sedaris contributed a wry but poignantly observed Personal History about returning to the lecture circuit, in the fall of 2021, as the pandemic lifted.
In “Retirement the Margaritaville Way,” No. 19 on the list, Nick Paumgarten visited Latitude Margaritaville, an active-living community for Jimmy Buffett enthusiasts. He found a place of relentless optimism, where “disgruntlement and curmudgeonliness must exist, but not in view of a visitor susceptible to such traits.” I’m no Buffett fan, but, in a time of great weariness, it is easy to feel the tug of Margaritaville. May we all find our sunny places next year.
Illustration by Chloe Cushman1. “We’re Not Going Back to the Time Before Roe. We’re Going Somewhere Worse”By Jia Tolentino
We are entering an era not just of unsafe abortions but of the widespread criminalization of pregnancy.
2. “How an Ivy League School Turned Against a Student”By Rachel Aviv
Mackenzie Fierceton was championed as a former foster youth who had overcome an abusive childhood and won a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. Then the University of Pennsylvania accused her of lying.
3. “Is Ginni Thomas a Threat to the Supreme Court?”By Jane Mayer
Behind closed doors, Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife is working with many groups directly involved in controversial cases before the Court.
4. “The Weakness of the Despot”By David Remnick
An expert on Stalin discusses Putin, Russia, and the West.
Illustration by Maxime Mouysset5. “The Unravelling of an Expert on Serial Killers”By Lauren Collins
Stéphane Bourgoin became famous through his jailhouse interviews with murderers. Then an anonymous collective of true-crime fans began investigating his own story.
6. “Inside the War Between Trump and His Generals”By Peter Baker and Susan B. Glasser
How Mark Milley and others in the Pentagon handled the national-security threat posed by their own Commander-in-Chief.
7. “A Guide to Getting Rid of Almost Everything”By Patricia Marx
Once you’ve thanked and said goodbye to the items that do not spark joy, what can you do with them?
8. “Your Personality, Explained by Your Annoying Household Habits”By Nicole Rose Whitaker
You leave a swig of orange juice in the bottle because you’re too busy with your own life to think about anyone else’s.
9. “The Radical Woman Behind ‘Goodnight Moon’ ”By Anna Holmes
Margaret Wise Brown constantly pushed boundaries—in her life and in her art.
Illustration by Juan Bernabeu10. “Are You the Same Person You Used to Be?”By Joshua Rothman
Researchers have studied how much of our personality is set from childhood, but what you’re like isn’t who you are.
11. “Why John Mearsheimer Blames the U.S. for the Crisis in Ukraine”By Isaac Chotiner
For years, the political scientist has claimed that Putin’s aggression toward Ukraine is caused by Western intervention. Have recent events changed his mind?
12. “The Mystifying Rise of Child Suicide”By Andrew Solomon
A family tragedy sheds light on a burgeoning mental-health emergency.
13. “The Best Books of 2022”By The New Yorker
Each week, our editors and critics recommend the most captivating, notable, brilliant, thought-provoking, and talked-about books. Now, as 2022 comes to an end, we’ve chosen a dozen essential reads in nonfiction and a dozen, too, in fiction and poetry.
14. “The Johnny Depp–Amber Heard Trial Is Not as Complicated as You May Think”By Jessica Winter
The entirety of the case rests on twelve words.
15. “Of Course the Constitution Has Nothing to Say About Abortion”By Jill Lepore
There is no mention of the procedure in a four-thousand-word document crafted by fifty-five men in 1787. This seems to be a surprise to Samuel Alito.
Photograph by Tadas Kazakevičius for The New Yorker16. “The Russians Fleeing Putin’s Wartime Crackdown”By Masha Gessen
Resisters are leaving Russia because the country they worked to build is disappearing—and the more people who leave, the faster it vanishes.
17. “The Harsh Realm of ‘Gentle Parenting’ ”By Jessica Winter
The approach flourishes because it caters to a child’s inner life. What does it neglect?
18. “Amy Coney Barrett’s Long Game”By Margaret Talbot
The newest Supreme Court Justice isn’t just another conservative—she’s the product of a Christian legal movement that is intent on remaking America.
Illustration by Nada Hayek19. “Retirement the Margaritaville Way”By Nick Paumgarten
At the active-living community for Jimmy Buffett enthusiasts, it’s five o’clock everywhere.
20. “Lucky-Go-Happy”By David Sedaris
The America I saw while on tour in the fall of 2021 was weary and battle-scarred. Its sidewalks were cracked, its mailboxes bashed in.
21. “The Collateral Damage of Queen Elizabeth’s Glorious Reign”By Sam Knight
In Tina Brown’s “The Palace Papers,” other royals stand and wait, but what purpose do they serve?
22. “The Purges in Putin’s Shrinking Inner Circle”By Isaac Chotiner
The frustrated Russian leader has punished officials for misjudging the invasion of Ukraine. But ordinary citizens remain in the dark.
Illustration by Gérard DuBois23. “Justice Alito’s Crusade Against a Secular America Isn’t Over”By Margaret Talbot
He’s had win after win—including overturning Roe v. Wade—yet seems more and more aggrieved. What drives his anger?
24. “Roe’s Final Hours in One of America’s Largest Abortion Clinics”By Stephania Taladrid
In Houston, a day of dismay, confusion, and dread after the Supreme Court ends the constitutional right to abortion.
25. “Can Ron DeSantis Displace Donald Trump as the G.O.P.’s Combatant-in-Chief?”By Dexter Filkins
A fervent opponent of mask mandates and “woke” ideology, the Florida governor channels the same rage as the former President, but with greater discipline.
Sourse: newyorker.com
