The Prophecies of Q
American conspiracy theories are entering a dangerous new phase.
June 2020
In This Issue
QAnon and conspiracies, the phantom papyrus, Russian election hacking, and the summer of Snowden. Plus sadcoms, the U.S. as failed state, and birds, with essays by Caitlin Flanagan, Thomas Lynch, Vann R. Newkirk II, and more.
Cover Story
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Since I Met Edward Snowden, I’ve Never Stopped Watching My Back
After receiving a trove of documents from the whistleblower, I found myself under surveillance and investigation by the U.S. government.
A Biblical Mystery at Oxford
A renowned scholar claimed that he discovered a first-century gospel fragment. Now he’s facing allegations of antiquities theft, cover-up, and fraud.
Dispatches
Oliver Munday We Are Living in a Failed State
The coronavirus didn’t break America. It revealed what was already broken.
MPI / Getty Pandemics Leave Us Forever Altered
What history can tell us about the long-term effects of the coronavirus
Illustration: Najeebah Al-Ghadban; Celestina Vaterra / Süddeutsche Zeitung Photo / Alamy Why Some of Us Thrive in a Crisis
For the lonely and misanthropic, these times bring surprising solidarity.
Erin Kirkland The Beauty of Age
Scenes from an all-women’s nursing home
Culture & Critics
Illustration: Paul Spella; Apple TV+ Trying Is a Sadcom in the Fleabag Mold
A new generation of TV comedies probes life’s bleak truths more pointedly than many dramas do.
Karolis Strautniekas J. M. Coetzee’s Unsettling Trilogy About a Possibly Divine Boy
The novelist asks how we recognize the truth when it enters the world.
Sacrée Frangine Why Birds Do What They Do
The more humans understand about their behavior, the more inaccessible their world seems.
Essays
Courtesy of Thomas Lynch Death Without Ceremony
We need time and space to grieve. The pandemic denies us this.
Caitlin Flanagan / The Atlantic I Thought Stage IV Cancer Was Bad Enough
Then came a pandemic during the presidency of Donald Trump.
Jillian Freyer Homeless in a City Buffeted by Plague
Boston’s most vulnerable citizens are experiencing a drastic reduction in places to eat, places to sit, places to use the bathroom, places to be safe, places to be.
Vincent Laforet / Reuters How America Handles Catastrophe
Covering Katrina weakened my faith in the country’s preparedness. The coronavirus has robbed me of it completely.
Elinor Carucci My Family Needed a Reset. Quarantine Gave Us One.
I can’t wait to get back to normal, but I know what I’ll be missing.
Jared Soares I’m Risking My Life to Bring You Ramen
How meal delivery became surreal
Ruddy Roye In a Pandemic, All Some People See Is Your Color
What COVID-19 reveals about our fraught relationships
Departments
Katie Martin The Commons: How to Destroy a Government
Readers respond to our April 2020 cover story and more.
Pavel Popov An Ode to Running in the Movies
What makes Harrison Ford such a great cinematic sprinter, and why does Tom Cruise always pump his arms like that?
Poetry
Paul Spella / The Atlantic
