The Most Nihilistic Conflict on Earth
Sudan’s devastating civil war shows what will replace the liberal order: anarchy and greed.
September 2025
In This Issue
Sudan’s devastating civil war, how Elon Musk ate NASA, a guitar guru to the rock gods, and how Canada is killing itself. Plus le Carré in Corfu, fearless flying, Mrs. Dalloway, marriage, Muriel Spark, a forgotten art prodigy, 20 years after Hurricane Katrina, and more.
Cover Story
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My Father, Guitar Guru to the Rock Gods
When the greatest musicians of the 1970s needed an instrument—or a friend—my dad was there.
Canada Is Killing Itself
The country gave its citizens the right to die. Doctors are struggling to keep up with demand.
How NASA Engineered Its Own Decline
The agency once projected America’s loftiest ideals. Then it ceded its ambitions to Elon Musk.
Chasing le Carré in Corfu
If you’re trying to find someone who doesn’t want to be found, you don’t go to the obvious places.
Dispatches
Illustration by Ben Hickey Why Marriage Survives
The institution has adapted, and is showing new signs of resilience.
Courtesy of Clint Smith Twenty Years After the Storm
What home meant before, and after, Hurricane Katrina
Illustration by Matteo Giuseppe Pani Captain Ron’s Guide to Fearless Flying
The pilot who calms the nerves of anxious fliers
Courtesy of Adrienne Salinger / D.A.P. Viewfinder: No Parents Allowed
Before smartphones and social media, teenagers constructed their identity on the walls of their room.
Culture & Critics
Illustration by Akshita Chandra* Mrs. Dalloway’s Midlife Crisis
Virginia Woolf’s wild run of creativity in her 40s included writing her masterpiece on the terrors and triumphs of middle age.
Illustration by Joshua Nazario Memoir of a Mailman
A new book describes the challenges and joys of life as a letter carrier.
Illustration: Louise Zergaeng Pomeroy. Sources: Edoardo Fornaciari / Getty; Evening Standard / Getty. The Judgments of Muriel Spark
The novelist liked playing God—a very capricious one.
Christie’s Images / Bridgeman Images The Woman Who Perfected Flower Painting
The 17th-century painter Rachel Ruysch was once more famous than Vermeer.
Departments
The Atlantic The Commons: ‘The Death Penalty Has No Place in This Country’
Readers respond to our July 2025 cover story and more.
The Atlantic Caleb's Inferno: September 2025
A devilish crossword puzzle
Poetry
Lucy Murray Willis Faith
A poem
