What the Chaos in Hospitals Is Doing to Doctors
Politicians’ refusal to admit when hospitals are overwhelmed puts a terrible burden on health-care providers.
January/February 2021
In This Issue
The pandemic endgame, the most American religion, and how Biden should hold Trump accountable. Plus Martellus Bennett, China’s rebel historians, new fiction by Te-Ping Chen, installment plans, suffragists, Martin Amis, and more.
Cover Stories
How Science Beat the Virus
And what it lost in the process
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How Biden Should Investigate Trump
The misdeeds and destructive acts are legion. The new president should focus on these three.
The Most American Religion
Perpetual outsiders, Mormons spent 200 years assimilating to a certain national ideal—only to find their country in an identity crisis. What will the third century of the faith look like?
Fiction
Li Hui Shanghai Murmur
A short story
Dispatches
Photo Rendering by Patrick White A Political Obituary for Donald Trump
The effects of his reign will linger. But democracy survived.
Lauren Tamaki He Won a Super Bowl. Now for the Real Challenge.
Former New England Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett believes there aren’t enough Black characters in children’s literature—and he wants to change that.
Giacomo Bagnara Why Is There Financing for Everything Now?
Are the new online services that allow you to buy jeans or shampoo in installments—interest-free—too good to be true?
Illustration by Trevor Davis; family photos courtesy of Arun Venugopal; other images by Federico Benocci / Eyeem / Getty; Tim Abramowitz / Getty; Michelle Marsan / Shutterstock The Truth Behind Indian American Exceptionalism
Many of us are unaware of the special circumstances that eased our entry into American life—and of the bonds we share with other nonwhite groups.
Estate of Terry Adkins / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / Lévy Gorvy The Artifacts of Bygone Lives
Remembering the dead through beloved objects
Culture & Critics
Illustration by Paul Spella; Images from Basso Cannarsa / Opale; Gary Doak / Alamy The Legacy of a Comic Master
In Inside Story, Martin Amis's final novel, the comic master delights, infuriates, and secures his legacy.
Li Zhensheng / Contact Press Images Uncovering the Cultural Revolution’s Awful Truths
Rebel historians chronicle a past that the Chinese Communist Party grows ever more intent on erasing.
Seb Agresti How Civilization Broke Our Brains
What can hunter-gatherer societies teach us about work, time, and happiness?
Illustration by Valerie Chiang; images from Hulton Archive / Shel Hershorn / Gado / Getty; Associated Press The Real Legacy of the Suffrage Movement
The cause produced undaunted trailblazers, Black and white, who continued to pursue social reform.
Departments
Katie Martin The Commons
Readers respond to our November 2020 issue and more.
Tim Lahan An Ode to Naps
Go ahead, take one.
Poetry
Paul Spella / The Atlantic
