LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS: The latest issue features…
LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS – JUNE 25, 2026 PREVIEW
Tag Archives: Literary Magazines
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – JUNE 22, 2026 PREVIEW
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest issue cover features ‘Pierre-Emmanuel Lyet’s “After the Comeback” – New Yorkers unite in hope.
Why Todd Blanche Should Not Be Attorney General
In a Senate that took its constitutional role seriously, Blanche would not win confirmation a second time. By Ruth Marcus
Ken Griffin’s Billions and Billions
The hedge-fund titan is an unabashed big spender—from pièds-a-terre to politics. By Gary Sernovitz
Inside the Ludicrous, Deadly Serious Plan to Take Over Greenland
“We want Greenland,” Trump said. Four men sprang into action to make fantasy a reality. By Ben Taub
When Did White-Collar Work Start to Look So Bleak?
In the nineteen-eighties, an office job promised security and fulfillment. For graduates starting careers today, the prospect is often tinged with dread. By Molly Fischer
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – JUNE 15, 2026 PREVIEW
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest issue cover features ‘Barry Blitt’s “Out Cold” – The South Lawn octagon.
Andrew Tate’s Empire of Abuse
How the defining figure of the manosphere built a fortune—and became a political force—by systematically exploiting women. By Heidi Blake
For the Nation’s Birthday, Making It Harder to Become an American
The Trump Administration has chosen to honor the Semiquincentennial of a nation of immigrants with a vision that sends the country back in time. By Jonathan Blitzer
For People with Misophonia, Everyday Noises Can Be Agony
The neurophysiological disorder is characterized by a severe aversion to sound—and the struggle to convince others of the severity of that aversion. By Sloane Crosley
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – JUNE 8, 2026 PREVIEW
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest issue cover features ‘Sergio García Sánchez and Lola Moral’s “The Secret Life of Books” – A living library. By Françoise Mouly
Maggie O’Farrell and the Art of Inventing the Past
Why read historical fiction? A new novel by the author of “Hamnet” offers one answer: because it’s fun. By Katy Waldman
Why the American Novel Refused to Grow Up
For the critic Leslie Fiedler, the country’s best and worst fiction was shaped by visions of escape from society—and therefore from maturity. By Becca Rothfeld
The World Cup According to Gianni Infantino
FIFA’s powerful president is remaking global soccer in his own image. Can the sport survive him? By Sam Knight
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – JUNE 1, 2026 PREVIEW
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest issue cover features ‘Mark Ulriksen’s “Kings of New York” – A historic season for the Knicks.
How Prepared Are We for a Public-Health Emergency?
The outbreaks of hantavirus and Ebola expose the shortsightedness of America’s retreat, under the Trump Administration, from its role as a global-health leader. By Dhruv Khullar
The Trump-Epstein Files: Look but Don’t Touch
The Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room, in Tribeca, housed three and a half million bound files, along with a handy time line charting the ickiness. By Charlotte Goddu
How Problematic Is Patriotism?
National pride in America has plummeted in the Trump era. Is it worth trying to salvage? By Arthur Krystal
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – MAY 25, 2026 PREVIEW
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest issue cover features ‘Kadir Nelson’s “Plein Air” – Impressions of spring.
Can the Democrats Take Back the Senate?
Their electoral prospects are finally improving, but opportunities can quickly give way to divisions. Does the Party have a plan? By Amy Davidson Sorkin
The Human-Trafficking Victim Next Door
A young girl was brought from Guinea to a wealthy suburb near Dallas. She spent the next sixteen years of her life in forced servitude. By Yudhijit Bhattacharjee
Can Hakeem Jeffries Lead a Democratic Takeover of the House?
An unprecedented gerrymandering effort led by Donald Trump—and internal divisions among Democrats—has made the Minority Leader’s path to victory harder than ever. By Jason Zengerle
Mary Todd Lincoln Has Long Been Derided. Is Her Reputation Salvageable?
History knows the First Lady as a hysterical widow and a lavish spender. Her most recent biographer chooses to highlight her mental fortitude and political prowess. By Thomas Mallon
LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS – MAY 21, 2026 PREVIEW
LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS: The latest issue features…
Lead Essays & Politics
- “America’s Afghanistan Delusion” by Tom Stevenson: Stevenson examines the legacy of the War on Terror, arguing that the 2021 withdrawal from Kabul was viewed by the Western establishment as a “mistake” or “cautionary tale” rather than the “crime” he suggests it was. He traces the expansion of American power through “black sites” and military advisers across the globe.
- “Short Cuts: Labour’s Failure” by James Butler: Butler analyzes the results of the English local elections (held on May 7). He criticizes Keir Starmer’s leadership style as “all injunction and no argument” and explores why national revulsion toward the Labour Party overshadowed local government issues.
- “Where’s All the Cash?” by John Lanchester: A characteristically lucid investigation into modern economics, focusing on the circulation of physical currency and the shifting nature of wealth in a digital-first economy.
Literature & History
- “On Marlen Haushofer” by Becca Rothfeld: A deep dive into the work of the Austrian writer, specifically her 1963 masterpiece The Wall. Rothfeld explores Haushofer’s recurring themes of entrapment and isolation, noting the paradoxical “joy” found in her most barricaded characters.
- “Baltic Snake Cults” by Diarmaid MacCulloch: The eminent historian reviews the long survival of paganism and “serpent worship” in the Baltic regions, challenging the standard narrative of a monolithic Christian Europe during the Middle Ages.
- “Should We Punish?” by Thomas Nagel: The philosopher engages with the ethics of the penal system, weighing the traditional justifications for punishment against contemporary moral and legal theories.
Other Features
“The Clearance of Aoineadh Mòr, 1824” by Tarn MacArthur: A historical account of the Highland Clearances, specifically focusing on the displacement of communities in Scotland.
At the Movies: Michael Wood provides his regular column of film criticism, likely focusing on current European or art-house releases.
Poetry & Correspondence: The issue also contains poems and a robust letters section, which in this period has been heavily occupied by debates over the Arctic (following Laleh Khalili’s piece in the previous issue) and the fallout of the UK local elections.
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – MAY 11 & 18, 2026 PREVIEW
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest issue cover features ‘Barry Blitt’s “Red, White, and Kinda Blue” – America’s birthday party.
Two Hundred and Fifty Years of Complicated Commemorations
Donald Trump’s aversion to admitting fault suggests that we will not likely see events that grapple with the nuanced nature of the nation’s history this July 4th. By Jelani Cobb
Was the Declaration of Independence Better Before the Edits?
Amid contention, criticism, and compromise, a divided nation had to present a unified front. It came at a cost. By Jill Lepore
Barack Obama Considers His Role in the Age of Trump
The former President remains one of the most popular politicians in the country. What are his obligations to it?
Zyzzyva Magazine —– Spring 2026 Preview
Nonfiction
“Saguaro in the Sea” by Sophia Acuña: on surfing and indigeneity in Southern California, told through collage.
“Care Directive” by Sarah Matsui: a daughter’s attempt to keep her aging father in Hawaii from all sorts of calamity, but having to monitor him from the mainland.
“Triptych: A Biographer’s Sketchbook” by Carolyn Burke: “The Baroness was lively, curious, and still blond at eighty-five. She received me in a flurry of franglais, the mingling of two languages in which we would converse, and put us at ease with pink champagne, her favorite.”
Fiction
“Decoys” by Will Boast: goofing around working at the town supermarket, burning through the days till it all comes to head.
“Lilac Mud” by Anita Felicelli: A Bay Area artist in Amsterdam is approached one night by a man claiming to be a former student, leading to a crisis of identity and purpose.
“Grote geplumaceerde” by Emily Nemens: “Afterward, staring hard at her phone, which was her radio, which was the bearer of bad news, she wondered what mattered at all.”
Poetry
Kevin Cantwell, Geraldine Jorge, Jonathon Keats, Caroline Kessler, and Noelani Piters.
In Conversation
Lydia Kiesling talks to acclaimed author Karen Russell about Russell’s latest novel, The Antidote, and about Russell’s “fascination with foundational myths, the things we choose to know, and the things we choose to ignore or forget.”
Art
Ian Everard
LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS – MAY 7, 2026 PREVIEW
LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS: The latest issue features ‘Who Owns The Arctic?’ by Laleh Khalili; De Kooning in Cuba by T.J. Clark; Politics on Speed by William Davies…
Who owns the Arctic?
From the 16th century onwards, as European powers feverishly colonised the world, the possibility of a Northern Sea Route connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Scandinavia to the Bering Strait, tantalised the Dutch and the British as an alternative to the southern routes to Asia and the Americas, which were dominated by Portugal and Spain. But the route only became a reality in the Soviet era, after investments in scientific, economic, industrial and military infrastructure in Siberia.
Politics on Speed
This is what distinguishes hyperpolitics from the mass democracy of the mid-20th century. Symbolic political gestures are now commonplace, but paid membership of organisations and parties has plummeted. The left has failed to find a replacement for trade unions as a basis for collective action in civil society. Political movements are easy to join, and just as easy to leave.
De Kooning in Cuba
De Kooning’s Suburb in Havana is a counter-revolutionary painting. Well, of course. It is counter-revolutionary because it is counter everything, versus everything, lost in suburbia. It wants to show us how hard it had to work to get precisely nowhere. Why nowhere was where it wished to get to is a question it leaves to the viewer.
Orbán’s Fall
Can there be poetic justice in politics? Perhaps once in a lifetime. In 1989, a young Viktor Orbán bravely told the crowds in Budapest’s Heroes’ Square that it was time for the Russians to go home, just as protesters had demanded in 1956; almost four decades later, he was heckled on the campaign trail with the same words.
