American Democracy Was Never Designed to Be Democratic
by Louis Menand

The partisan redistricting tactics of cracking and packing aren’t merely flaws in the system—they are the system.

A Critic at Large
The Empty Promise of Boris Johnson
The man expected to be Britain’s next Prime Minister makes people in power, including himself, appear ridiculous, but that doesn’t mean he’d dream of handing power to anybody else.
by Sam Knight

A Critic at Large
The Contested Legacy of Atticus Finch
Harper Lee’s beloved father figure became a talking point during the Kavanaugh hearings and is now coming to Broadway. Is he still a hero?
by Casey Cep

A Critic at Large
Is Education a Fundamental Right?
The history of an obscure Supreme Court ruling sheds light on the ongoing debate over schooling and immigration.
by Jill Lepore

A Critic At Large
Keeping Cool
Jean-Pierre Melville’s films are illuminated by what he saw when France was ruled by oppression and ordinary people had to decide what, or whom, they would obey.
by Anthony Lane

A Critic at Large
The Shadow
A hundred years of Orson Welles.
by Alex Ross

A Critic at Large
Forbidden Love
The passions behind Patricia Highsmith’s “The Price of Salt.”
by Margaret Talbot

Also, letters from readers about David Remnick’s piece, “Bob Dylan and the ‘Hot Hand,’ ” about Dylan’s creative streak from early 1965 to the summer of 1966.

A Critic at Large
Let It Go
Are we becoming a nation of hoarders?
by Joan Acocella