If Liberals Won’t Enforce Borders, Fascists Will
We need to make hard decisions now about what will truly benefit current and future Americans.
April 2019
In This Issue
Will John Bolton bring on Armageddon, the fertility doctor’s secret, the towers that Trump never built, and white nationalism’s deep American roots. Plus William J. Burns on Putin and Russia, how AI will rewire us, the ‘Female Byron,’ James Fallows v. leaf blowers, why America needs ‘Ellen,’ psychiatry’s hubris, and more.
Cover Story
Get the digital edition of this issue.
Subscribers can access PDF versions of every issue in The Atlantic archive. When you subscribe, you’ll not only enjoy all of The Atlantic’s writing, past and present; you’ll also be supporting a bright future for our journalism.Features
Trump Once Proposed Building a Castle on Madison Avenue
A brief history of the president’s unfulfilled architectural dreams
Will John Bolton Bring on Armageddon—Or Stave It Off?
The national security adviser could be our best hope for protecting the world from Donald Trump’s impulses.
The Fertility Doctor’s Secret
Donald Cline must have thought no one would ever know. Then DNA testing came along.
How the U.S.-Russian Relationship Went Bad
An American diplomat tells the inside story of Yeltsin, Putin, and opportunities lost.
White Nationalism’s Deep American Roots
A long-overdue excavation of the book that Hitler called his “bible,” and the man who wrote it
Dispatches
Oliver Munday How AI Will Rewire Us
For better and for worse, robots will alter humans’ capacity for altruism, love, and friendship.
Rami Niemi The Tunisian-Italian Rapper Who Won Over Europe’s Most Anti-Immigrant Country
How Italy fell for Ghali
Kati Lacker Get Off My Lawn
How a small group of activists (our correspondent among them) got leaf blowers banned in the nation’s capital
John Cuneo Game of Thrones Turned Its Composer Into a Rock Star
Ramin Djawadi’s score helped make the show a hit—and brought unlikely fame to the composer.
Luci Gutiérrez Bad Dreams Are Good
Your night life prepares you for what’s to come.
Nadav Machete Why Urban Millennials Love Uniqlo
Will the rest of America learn to love it too?
James Graham Why Americans Don’t Cheat on Their Taxes
The weirdly hopeful story of how the U.S. came to be a leader in tax compliance
Joe McKendry Prehistoric Happy Hour
A very short book excerpt
The Culture File
Hsiao-Ron Cheng Killing It With Kindness
Ellen DeGeneres, daytime superstar, is itching to try something new. But America needs the old Ellen more than ever before.
Julien Pacaud Psychiatry’s Incurable Hubris
The biology of mental illness is still a mystery, but practitioners don’t want to admit it.
Kim Ryu Amy Hempel Is the Master of the Minimalist Short Story
Amy Hempel’s best short stories reveal how rich spareness can be.
Arsh Raziuddin The ‘Female Byron’
The celebrity poet Letitia Elizabeth Landon mesmerized a 19th-century public with hints of dark secrets.
Simon & Schuster Brain Surgery, Up Close
Watching a neurosurgeon at work is awe- and cringe-inducing.
Departments
The Conversation: Don’t Call Me LGBTQ
Readers respond to our January/February 2019 cover story and more.
Graham Roumieu What Was the Best Sequel in History?
A big question
Poetry
Melinda Josie
