The Rise of CliffsNotes Cinema
Oversimplified literary remakes miss the point of the works they are adapting.
Culture
Why Justin Bieber Played YouTube Onstage for Thousands of People
The pop star transformed the normal act of browsing your laptop into something interesting—and unsettling.
The New Age of Performance Anxiety
With the rise of screen culture, all the world has stage fright.
Where Did ‘Let Them’ Come From?
Years before Mel Robbins published her best-selling self-help book, a struggling writer posted a poem with a similar message.
The Writer Fueled by Life’s Randomness
Rabih Alameddine, who won the National Book Award last month, has described his idiosyncratic approach as “childish rebelliousness.”
The Sound of a Charlie Brown Christmas
Growing up, my holidays were profoundly shaped by the soundtrack to a classic animated special.
America’s Schools Are Less Divided Than You Think
Teachers are generally much more concerned about doing right by their students than they are about angering parents and community members.
The 20 Best Podcasts of 2025
The shows that deserve a spot in listeners’ rotations
What the U.S. Could Learn From an Irish Theater
For 100 years, Ireland’s Abbey Theatre has shown that a publicly funded troupe can deliver cultural riches and hard truths.
The Importance of Critical Thinking in a Zombiefied World
Why romantasy is crucial to understanding Apple TV’s hit show Pluribus
Only Timothée Chalamet Could Get Away With This
To promote his new movie, the actor has thrown all caution to the wind.
The Atlantic’s Favorite Images of the Year
Every single story The Atlantic publishes includes art—documentary photography, conceptual illustrations, 3-D animation, handmade collages, paintings, and more—that provides readers with another lens through which they can understand and experience a given subject or idea. The Atlantic’s art department created and commissioned thousands of images in 2025; here is a collection of some of our favorites. We hope they make you think.
Everything We Know About Rape Is Wrong
Girls Play Dead is a transformative analysis of what sexual assault does to women.
AI Is Democratizing Music. Unfortunately.
The emerging technology is warping the record industry in all sorts of strange—and foreboding—ways.