Tag Archives: October 2026

HISTORY TODAY MAGAZINE – OCTOBER 2026 PREVIEW

HISTORY TODAY MAGAZINE: The latest issue features Hirohito’s return to Europe, the lost history of the Aztec Empire, the decline of the medieval Carolingians, the FBI and the Nazi Spies, and the 18th-century search for the soul.

The Lost History of the Aztec Empire

Before the Spanish conquest, the history of the Aztec Empire was recorded orally and with hieroglyphs. In danger of being lost or forgotten, Indigenous historians began to write it down.

When Hirohito Returned to Europe

Emperor Hirohito’s tour of Europe in 1971 made it painfully clear that the wounds of the Second World War had not healed.

The Decline of the Carolingians

The Carolingian Empire was consolidated by one of Europe’s most celebrated kings, but Charlemagne’s death meant that decline was inevitable.

The FBI and the Nazi Spies

In 1938 a sensational spy trial exposed a Nazi plot to seduce and blackmail US officers. Despite America’s technological might, counterintelligence had been slow on the uptake.

Why Does Academic History Matter?

The study of history at UK universities appears to be under existential threat. Should anyone care?

THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS – OCTOBER 8, 2026

THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS: The latest issue features Drew Gilpin Faust’s analysis of historical approaches to slavery’s defenders, Ian Tattersall’s exploration of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck’s role in evolutionary science, and Ange Mlinko’s review of Lisa Robertson’s novel Flow Chart of Paris.

Nothing Stays Buried

Nancy Lemann sets her sad screwball novels of manners in the closed-off world of upper-crust white New Orleans that she grew up in.

Lives of the Saints by Nancy Lemann, with an introduction by Geoff Dyer
The Ritz of the Bayou by Nancy Lemann, with an introduction by James Wolcott and an afterword by the author
The Oyster Diaries by Nancy Lemann

Devils in America

The lessons that Donald Trump learned from Roy Cohn—lie, cheat, engage in unlimited corruption—now shape official government policy in the US.

American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn’s Dark Journey from Joe McCarthy to Donald Trump by Kai Bird with Susan Goldmark

De Kooning Draws a Picture

Willem de Kooning’s works on paper document his efforts to find ways of retaining both image and abstraction, depth and flatness.

Willem de Kooning Drawing an exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, June 14–September 20, 2026, and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, October 9, 2026–January 17, 2027

‘Writing on One Table’

Charles Lamb’s camp, mischievous, melancholic alter ego, Elia, owes much to his sister, Mary, with whom he lived for forty years, absorbing her “rambling chat.”

Complete Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, Volume IV: Elia and The Last Essays of Elia edited by Gregory Dart

COMMENTARY MAGAZINE – OCTOBER 2026 PREVIEW

COMMENTARY MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘The Democratic Socialist Congregation’ – How The DSA Serves As A Religion Substitute For Downwardly Mobile Elites….

The Democratic Socialist Congregation

How the DSA serves as a religion substitute for downwardly mobile elites by Jesse Arm

Never Drone Alone

What our history and Ukraine’s strategies can teach us about the future of war by Arthur Herman

The Jewish PRIZE

A five-point plan to fight anti-Semitism in court—and win by Jeffrey Lax

Mother Russia Is Mentally Ill

Russia’s real enemy isn’t Ukraine. It’s helplessness by Irina Velitskaya

HARPER’S MAGAZINE – OCTOBER 2026

HARPER’S MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Revolt In The Heartland’ – Can Old-Time Populism Save The Country?

Barn Burners

Can the Democrats harness the new prairie populism?  by Kyle Paoletta

At The Edge of Empire

The rise and fall of immigration boomtowns by Belén Fernández

Then They Came for the Ostriches 

Poultry and paranoia in the Great White North by J. B. MacKinnon

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN MAGAZINE – OCTOBER 2026

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN: The latest issue features ‘Impossible Questions’ – What came before the big bang?

The questions science may never answer

Will some of the biggest mysteries in science remain forever unsolved? by Sarah Scoles

Will we ever know how life began?

Scientists disagree on how biology got started and on whether we can ever know for sure

Will we ever achieve immortality?

Scientists are pursuing the limits of longevity

What if we never find dark matter?

Could the hunt for the universe’s missing matter be the biggest wild goose chase in scientific history?

THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE – OCTOBER 2026 PREVIEW

THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE: The latest issue features “EMPIRE OF GRIFT” – Anne Applebaum examines how hardened ideologues and opportunistic profiteers are bending American diplomacy to advance an antidemocratic agenda—and their own financial interests. For our cover, the illustrator Ben Hickey created an ominous image of figures in shadow arrayed around a map of the world, evoking the war-room scenes from Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 film, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

MAGA Is Making the World Safe for Corruption

Far-right ideologues have transformed American foreign policy into a tool of private gain and antidemocratic reaction. By Anne Applebaum

What Trump’s Bizarre Posts Are Teaching Us About AI

The president’s recent Truth Social barrage of fake images reflects the dangers—for all of us—of virtual self-aggrandizement. By Gal Beckerman

A Diagnosis for Social Conflict That Gets Lost Along the Way

A new book suggests that arguing isn’t about winning but seems preoccupied with it anyway. By Lily Meyer

THE NEW CRITERION – OCTOBER 2026

THE NEW CRITERION: The latest issue features….

The Classical Inheritance, II: Decline & Rise by Spencer A. Klavan

The Tragedy of Charlatanry by Anthony Daniels

Goodbye to po-biz by David Lehman

A post-Western “Odyssey” by Victor Davis Hanson

New poems by Daniel Janeiro, Steven Peterson & Will Wells

LITERARY REVIEW OF CANADA – OCTOBER 2026 PREVIEW

LITERARY REVIEW OF CANADA: The latest issue features…

Crossing a Line

On the connection between books and home Kyle Wyatt

Bug in the System

Does healing the world mean abandoning capitalism? Darrell Varga

Minor but Key

Where non-sovereign nations dwell George Anderson

Before He Wore 42

Jackie Robinson’s season in Montreal David Marks Shribman

THE NATION MAGAZINE – OCTOBER 2026 PREVIEW

Cover of October 2026 Issue

THE NATION MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Fall Books’….

Populists Can’t Be Populist if They Suppress the Vote

The crusade against ballot access, like virtually every other facet of Trump’s agenda, does nothing to serve the interests of “the people,” but our press is too brain-dead to notice.

The Misremembered ’90s of “The Backrooms”

The Gen Z filmmaker presents the decade not as it was but as reproduced via nostalgic threads on Internet forums.

There’s Nothing Traditional About Tradwives

Propagandists for stay-at-home domesticity are monetizing a fantasy—and they’re not really staying at home.

SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE – SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2026

Cover of Smithsonian magazine issue from September/October 2026

SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Exploring Mexico City’s Private Worlds’ – Intimate treasures await in the sprawling capital’s newest museums, from artists’ homes to buried ruins.

The Marvelous Museums of Mexico City

The ancient capital has plenty of artwork and fossils, if that’s what you like. Or tour the writing rooms of a Nobel winner, the fortified home of an exiled Russian revolutionary and towers of skulls

Who Dwells in a Shell?

Before they become sandy souvenirs, the baubles in the bubbles of the shoreline serve as a veritable fortress for creatures like clams, mussels and conchs

A Flair for the Dramatic

Known for its elaborate courtship ritual, the white-headed duck is a conservation icon in Spain. Elsewhere, it’s fighting for a second act