Ian Crouch

From the daily newsletter: too many crooks. Plus: how Trump benefitted from the politics of inflation; the end of American climate leadership; and a novel that captures Modi’s India.

From the daily newsletter: Nicholas Lemann on Biden's Big Deal. Plus: the politics of a murder in Georgia; the haunting world of Japanese puppet theatre; and can steampunk save us?

From the daily newsletter: the pressures of raising kids. Plus: Mati Diop and the cinema of impossible returns; the crisis of storytelling; and introducing Help, I Need a Critic!

From the daily newsletter: Can Chairman Bang build a global sound? Plus: Hurricane Milton and the new abnormal; Taylor Lorenz goes full creator; and the man behind Bitcoin (maybe).

From the daily newsletter: the Harris campaign’s plan for North Carolina; and the style of the season.

At the center of the show were the straight men, or, in this case, women: the House reading clerks, Tylease Alli and Susan Cole. Everything about their manner—capable, organized, serious—as they called the roll was a counterpoint to the politicians sitting before them. For a few days they became niche sensations, the voices of sanity that kept the gag going. Thanks to their crisp, measured voices, C-SPAN became must-see slow TV. And when, in October, the House found itself speakerless anew, ther…

The documentary short “Cat-astrophe” offers a brief history of the cute, if troublesome, video-chat avatar, and the real-life kitten whose face launched a viral moment.

The inventor of more than eight hundred toys explains why making playthings is a noble profession.

Peck’s début album, “Pony,” might be seen as a satire, but the Canadian musician’s singing makes it clear that there is something, at the heart of this, that’s deadly serious.

The German series, whose second season was recently added to Netflix, centers on a handful of families whose secrets and betrayals unfold in the course of multiple time lines.