Why the Age of American Progress Ended
Invention alone can’t change the world; what matters is what happens next.
January/February 2023
In This Issue
The Progress Report: Why American progress has stalled, the rise of the supertall, and seeing Earth from space. Plus the end of humanity, Marjorie Taylor Greene, solving homelessness, mood swings, Cormac McCarthy, Shirley Hazzard, the return of the Old West, and more.
The Progress Report
How Tall Is Too Tall?
The rise and rise and rise of the supertall skyscraper
Seeing Earth From Space Will Change You
The question is how.
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Illustration by Eric Yahnker. Source: House Creative Services. Why Is Marjorie Taylor Greene Like This?
On the ground in the Georgia congresswoman’s alternate universe
Painting by Reynier Llanes. "The Poet," 2021 (oil on canvas, 47 x 36 inches). The People Cheering for Humanity’s End
A disparate group of thinkers says we should welcome our demise.
Matt Huynh It’s High Noon in America
In our popular culture and in our politics, we’re returning to the Old West.
Dispatches
Danielle Del Plato The Obvious Answer to Homelessness
And why everyone’s ignoring it
Illustration by Joan Wong. Sources: Courtesy of the Chi family; Yun Chang; Katherine Hu; Datawrapper. I Went to Taiwan to Say Goodbye
To my grandmother, and perhaps to the country whose resilience she shares
Culture & Critics
Daniele Castellano T. S. Eliot Saw All This Coming
One hundred years after the publication of The Waste Land, its vision has never been more terrifying.
María Jesús Contreras ‘That’s Just Like White Noise.’
Any writer with an interest in probing “American magic and dread”—to borrow a phrase from the novel—is probably in conversation with Don DeLillo, whether or not she knows it.
Illustration by James Lee Chiahan. Source image: Karol Jalochowski / Santa Fe Institute / Miller Omega Program. The Incandescent Wisdom of Cormac McCarthy
His two final novels are the pinnacle of a controversial career.
Photo-illustration by Chantal Jahchan. Source: Vatican Pool / Getty. The Reinvention of the Catholic Church
Scandals have taken a toll, and faith is flagging in Europe and the U.S. But Catholicism isn’t on the wane—it’s changing in influential ways.
Craig Sillitoe / Fairfax Media / Getty Why Read Literary Biography?
What Shirley Hazzard’s life can, and can’t, tell us about her fiction
Departments
Katie Martin / The Atlantic The Commons: Who Cares About Cursive? Kids Don’t Learn to Churn Butter Anymore, Either.
Readers respond to articles in our October and November issues.
Tim Lahan An Ode to Mood Swings
If you don’t like me now, just give it an hour.
Poetry
Imperial War Museums / Getty; The Atlantic
