Category Archives: Dept. of…

Doppelgängers

September 30, 2024 New Yorker cover
September 30, 2024

Dept. of Influences
The Roots of the Tony-Winning “Stereophonic”
by Michael Schulman

Ken Caillat, who was an engineer on the Fleetwood Mac album “Rumours,” went to see David Adjmi’s hit play and was surprised by the similarities with his own memoir.

Ear Injuries Through History

July 29, 2024 New Yorker cover
June 29, 2024

Dept. of Close Calls
Ear Injuries Through History
by Zach Helfand

When a bullet wounded Donald Trump’s ear at a recent rally, the former President joined a long list of historical and literary precedents, from Evander Holyfield to Hamlet’s father.

The Lies in Your Grocery Store

September 11, 2023 New Yorker cover
September 11, 2023

Dept. of Public Health
The Lies in Your Grocery Store
by Sarah Larson

Most people accept the gimmicks of food labelling. One lawyer can’t stomach them.

Todd Rundgren, Renaissance Rocker

January 2 & 9, 2023 New Yorker cover
January 2 & 9, 2023

Dept. of Song
Todd Rundgren, Renaissance Rocker
by Nick Paumgarten

Besides “Hello It’s Me,” his C.V. includes playing in a Bowie tribute band, producing Meat Loaf as a Springsteen parody, and getting drunk with Mrs. Soupy Sales.

The Enduring Allure of Choose Your Own Adventure Books

September 19, 2022 New Yorker cover
September 19, 2022

Dept. of Reading
The Enduring Allure of Choose Your Own Adventure Books
by Leslie Jamison

How a best-selling series gave young readers a new sense of agency.

Going Public

August 2, 2021 New Yorker cover
August 2, 2021

New York’s Dreamy, Disorienting Reopening
Photography by Matthew Pillsbury
Text by Zach Helfand

Matthew Pillsbury’s long-exposure photographs capture the return of crowds after COVID lockdown. As communal city life comes back, can we find one another?

How a City Comes Back to Life

June 14, 2021 New Yorker cover
June 14, 2021

How a City Comes Back to Life
by Adam Gopnik

After a year of tragedy and uncertainty, New Yorkers are revisiting old haunts—and sharing them with new faces.

Has an Old Soviet Mystery at Last Been Solved?

May 17, 2021 New Yorker cover
May 17, 2021

Has an Old Soviet Mystery at Last Been Solved?
by Douglas Preston

The strange fate of a group of skiers in the Ural Mountains has generated endless speculation.

The Fiftieth Anniversary of “Feliz Navidad,” the Simplest Song Ever Written

December 21, 2020

The Fiftieth Anniversary of “Feliz Navidad,” the Simplest Song Ever Written
by Michael Schulman

José Feliciano looks back on the nineteen-word Christmas song, which he wrote in ten minutes and recorded in a single take.

A Tale of Two Harveys

January 20, 2020

Dept. of Wormholes
A Tale of Two Harveys
Stranger than fiction! One of Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers represented a man who, in 1993, kidnapped another Harvey Weinstein and kept him captive for twelve days in a pit next to the West Side Highway.

by Bruce Handy