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The Overprotected Kid
A preoccupation with safety has stripped childhood of independence, risk taking, and discovery—without making it safer. A radical new playground points to a better solution.
The overprotected child, the high price of stop-and-frisk, the monogamy trap, LBJ and the Civil Rights Act, Matthew Weiner previews the new season of Mad Men, and more
A preoccupation with safety has stripped childhood of independence, risk taking, and discovery—without making it safer. A radical new playground points to a better solution.
And other insights from a groundbreaking study of how parents impact children’s academic achievement
Civil-rights activists are ecstatic that a federal judge declared the NYPD’s policy unconstitutional. But law-enforcement officials say the practice has made U.S. cities dramatically safer. Now what?
In 1988, Hollywood built an ersatz baseball field in rural Iowa for a Kevin Costner film. A quarter century later, the community finds itself bitterly divided over a curious question: Should the field’s fake authenticity be preserved?
The case for strong mayors
Fifty years later, new accounts of its fraught passage reveal the era's real hero—and it isn’t the Supreme Court.
It can ensure stability and protect minorities better than any other form of order. The case for a tempered American imperialism.
How better design could fix your workday—and your life
Team managers and corporate boards tear their rosters apart to land a top pick, who they assume will lead them to salvation. The psychology of a strategy that seldom works.
The twilight of exclamatory excess
A rogue designer tries to replace an old standard
On the eve of the show’s final season, Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner talks about disappointment and redemption—and reveals his dreamlike perception of everyday life.
The healthcare reformer David Blumenthal explains why the medical system can’t move into the digital age.
Sorting weight by demographic group reveals complex and surprising patterns.
A spate of stuffed-wolf attacks strikes Hong Kong
A very short book excerpt
Our advice columnist to the rescue
A new biography reveals a William S. Burroughs both ghastlier and more impressive than many previously thought.
Philosophers eager to write for popular audiences are finding readers who want answers science can’t offer.
What do we talk about when we talk about love? How hard and boring it is to be faithful.
Depends on if you're drunk.
Berlin has buried every trace of the Third Reich—with one big exception.
Barbara Ehrenreich tries to make rational sense of an adolescent epiphany.
Responses and reverberations
Who is the greatest fictional character of all time?