Evan Osnos

W.C.K. had built a makeshift jetty to bring food ashore in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands face the prospect of famine, because Israel had resisted calls to allow more aid in by land. The seven W.C.K. workers were travelling in a convoy of three cars, at least one of which was clearly marked with the organization’s logo, when they were hit by drone-fired missiles, even though the group had coördinated its mission with the Israel Defense Forces. The Israeli military called the strikes a “traged…

The couple, college sweethearts from Indiana University, had arrived in California seven years earlier, in search of a new life. They had started the cross-country drive with their dog, Lucy, on New Year’s Eve. In L.A., Mallory trained to be a hair stylist, like her mother and grandmother back home in Santa Claus, Indiana. Zach, who had secretly wanted to act ever since he saw his first Broadway play as a child, landed a few tiny parts: he played Demon 3 in one film, an unnamed basketball player…

The Shadow of Tiananmen Falls on Hong Kong

Kennedy’s calm command of the facts was partly an illusion; he had spent days preparing with advisers, memorizing statistics from index cards—about steel production, Soviet scientists, and obstacles facing Black Americans in the job market—to make his case for a more equitable, ambitious society. Onstage, Nixon’s perceived advantage “vanished before the first debate was over,” the historian Doris Kearns Goodwin writes in her latest book, “An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s…

But, at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds on Friday afternoon, Biden would address a different kind of crowd—the public and the faithful, or, for the purposes of the moment, the willing. North Carolina’s governor, Roy Cooper, preceded him, and, in a bit of a tell, he started out talking about the other guy. “Do we want to be Donald Trump’s America?” Cooper asked. “No!” the crowd answered. After a long windup, he got to Biden’s achievements, with all the majesty of checking a grocery list. “Jo…

Moments into the conversation with Stephanopoulos, it became clear that Biden had a limited desire to take away any lessons from his debate with Trump on June 27th, which pummelled the confidence of Democrats and stirred frantic talk of replacing him on the ballot. “Did you ever watch the debate afterward?” Stephanopoulos asked. “I don’t think I did, no,” Biden said. It was a casually astonishing reply. In 2012, when President Barack Obama flopped in his first debate against Mitt Romney, Obama’s…

But the Second World War was raging, and Roosevelt was convinced that he was the person best equipped to safeguard his achievements, defend democracy, and stop future aggression. Roosevelt ordered his handlers and the Secret Service to disguise his frailties. Harry Truman, his Vice-President, told the press, “He’s still the leader he’s always been,” but privately confessed to an aide, “Physically he’s just going to pieces.” Presidents are remembered as much for how they depart the office as for…

2 days ago ... Evan Osnos writes that, throughout Joe Biden's political career, the President has turned pain into purpose. Now Biden must do it again.

In a valedictory speech in Chicago, the President mapped his legacy and asked to be remembered as a man who pulled the country from the maw of tragedy.

Three months ago, the Vice-President was fighting for respect in Washington. Can she defy her doubters—and end the Trump era?