The Magazine
March 21, 2022
Goings On
Night Life
Dionne Warwick’s Flawless Voice
The soul singer, a Grammy Hall of Famer who’s sold a hundred million records and counting, brings more than three decades’ worth of hits to City Winery.
Tables for Two
Delightful Discoveries at Hawksmoor
For its ninth outlet, in Gramercy Park, the upscale U.K. steak-house group pulled out all the stops, with a menu featuring mammoth slabs of charcoal-grilled meat.
The Talk of the Town
Amy Davidson Sorkin on oil, Trump, and the G.O.P.; calling from Kyiv; the endurance of the Endurance; why the Catskills beat L.A.; French politics in English.
Paris Postcard
Translating the French Election for the Freedom-Fry Audience
Gilles Paris references “Emily in Paris” and considers Maureen Dowd an inspiration for his daily dispatches in Le Monde’s first-ever English-language column, aimed at American readers.
Ukraine Postcard
Vlogging the War
With the help of a database launched by Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, a YouTuber from Kyiv is calling strangers in Russia and telling them just what their boys in uniform are doing across the border.
Dream Role
The Anti-Elizabeth Holmes
Amanda Seyfried describes why she almost passed on a dream role, playing the Theranos fraudster in Hulu’s “The Dropout,” in favor of staying on her farm upstate, where she collects her sheepdog’s fur to spin into yarn for crocheting.
Comment
The Trumpist Ukraine Blame Game
After the invasion, there may or may not be room for Putin apologists in the Republican Party, but there is certainly room for Trump apologists.
The Deep
Waiting for the Endurance
As the old-school explorers on a double-hulled icebreaker searched for Shackleton’s ship, Ping-Pong, Alicia Keys songs, and dark chocolate staved off boredom—and the cold.
Reporting & Essays
American Chronicles
Why the School Wars Still Rage
From evolution to anti-racism, parents and progressives have clashed for a century over who gets to tell our origin stories.
A Reporter at Large
Have Chinese Spies Infiltrated American Campuses?
The U.S. government arrested Chinese professors, implying that they were foreign agents. The professors say that they’ve been caught up in a xenophobic panic.
Portfolio
Ukrainian Refugees’ Journeys Have Just Begun
On arriving in Poland, people fleeing the Russian invasion weigh where to go next.
Letter from Ukraine
What the Russian Invasion Has Done to Ukraine
After thwarting a quick victory for Russia, Ukrainians are galvanized—and facing a punitive assault.
Fiction
Fiction
Wood Sorrel House
The Critics
On Television
“Bel-Air” and “Abbott Elementary” Reboot and Revive the Network Sitcom
The former, on Peacock, is a humorless remake of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” while the latter, an original series by Quinta Brunson, has rejuvenated the form.
The Theatre
History Lessons in “The Chinese Lady”
In a play by Lloyd Suh, at the Public, Afong Moy—who is believed to be the first woman from China to come to the United States, in 1834—summarizes the travails of the Chinese in America.
Books
Exercise Is Good for You. The Exercise Industry May Not Be
Amid the marketing of unattainable physical ideals, it’s easy to forget what made fitness fun.
The Art World
Art in a Time of War
The images produced by artists historicize war’s sick seductiveness while concentrating the mind on past, present, and, ineluctably, future calamity.
Books
Literature’s Most Controversial Nobel Laureate
Peter Handke’s defenders argue that his views on Serbia are extraneous to his literary achievement, but a close reading of his output suggests otherwise.
Musical Events
Revisiting Verdi’s Political Masterpiece
The Met débuts a new production of the darkly magnificent “Don Carlos.”
Books
Solmaz Sharif Refuses to Fill in the Gaps
In “Customs,” the poet displays a thrilling contempt for literature’s vaunted ability to elicit empathy.
Poems
Poems
The Letter, 1968
Poems
Anvil
Cartoons
1/9
“The pit of despair. That’s new, isn’t it?”
Cartoon by Mick Stevens
Cartoon Caption Contest
Puzzles & Games Dept.
The Mail
Letters should be sent with the writer’s name, address, and daytime phone number via e-mail to [email protected]. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium. We regret that owing to the volume of correspondence we cannot reply to every letter.