What Happened to American Childhood?
Too many kids show worrying signs of fragility from a very young age. Here’s what we can do about it.
May 2020
In This Issue
The anxious child, the lawyer whose clients didn’t exist, fighting America’s opioid epidemic, and H. R. McMaster on what China wants. Plus friendship with Philip Roth, ending the office dress code, Joey Votto, Calder’s art, Robert Stone’s novels, and more.
Cover Story
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The Lawyer Whose Clients Didn’t Exist
A well-known attorney helped land a $2 billion settlement for Gulf Coast seafood-industry workers. But who was he really representing?
America’s Other Epidemic
A new approach to fighting the opioid crisis as it quietly rages on
How China Sees the World
And how we should see China
Philip Roth’s Terrible Gift of Intimacy
During his last two decades, we spent thousands of hours in each other’s company. It was a little like a marriage; I couldn’t have done without it.
Dispatches
Justin Metz The Last Anti-Trump Republicans Are Biding Their Time
The movement didn’t prevent the president’s 2016 ascent, but it may yet save the GOP.
Lauren Tamaki The Brainiest Hitter
Can Joey Votto outsmart age?
Asia Pietrzyk After the Pandemic, the Office Dress Code Should Never Come Back
Are “fancy” sweatpants here for good?
Rohan Hande India Is No Longer India
Exile in the time of Modi
Camille Picquot A View From the Before Times
When riding the subway seemed mundane
Culture & Critics
John-Paul Steele / Barcroft Media / Getty / The Atlantic The Secret of Scooby-Doo’s Enduring Appeal
Why on earth has the formulaic series, which debuted half a century ago, outlasted just about everything else on television?
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith The People Who Profited Off the Trail of Tears
The deportation of Native Americans westward in the 1830s was fueled by busy bankers and unchecked avarice.
Späth / ullstein bild / Getty What Alexander Calder Understood About Joy
America’s greatest sculptor gave objects a playful life of their own.
Ernesto Artillo A Novelist’s Ambition to Define America
Robert Stone set out to capture the national condition in fiction, a goal that’s more relevant than ever.
Departments
Katie Martin The Commons: The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake
Readers respond to our March 2020 cover story and more.
Till Lauer An Ode to Driving in America
A Brit learns to love Dunkin’, classic-rock radio, and the open road.
Poetry
Paul Spella / The Atlantic
