VIDEO: In a sit-down interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates, Barack Obama reveals that he’s okay with the criticism.
Will Trump ever be blamed? Olga Khazan asks. Even after his plan to repeal Obamacare fizzled, his supporters seemed to blame anyone but him.
Ever since Harriet Beecher Stowe helped found the magazine in the spring of 1857, women have been integral to The Atlantic.
During the Cold War, a concerned Eleanor Roosevelt watched Russian influence spread to the world’s “uncommitted nations” and called for a re-dedication to the ‘American Dream’ in the April 1961 issue. In our August 1932 issue, Hellen Keller wrote a piece titled “Put Your Husband in the Kitchen,” in the form of humorous Depression-era business advice-giving.
The covers featured here include one from August 1968 with songwriter and activist Joan Baez, in which she shares excerpts from her journal; Wendy Kaminer on “Feminism’s Identity Crisis” leading the October 1993 issue; and the July/August 2013’s cover story by Anne-Marie Slaughter, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All,” arguing that true equality entails sweeping policy changes. Do you have a favorite female Atlantic writer or artist? Comment below.
Can pants be so tight that they cause blood clots, or back pain? Katie Heaney asks the most pressing questions in Are Skinny Jeans Going to Kill Me?
(Illustration: Chelsea Beck)
From Teresa Mathew’s piece on the India’s first transgender school.
“When India’s first transgender school, Sahaj, was inaugurated on December 30, 2016, media organizations reported that it had 10 students and intended to offer accredited online classes through the National Institute of Open Schooling as well as vocational training to trans dropouts in their 20s and 30s. It was the first school of its kind in India, and the first time the Catholic Church had gotten involved in such a capacity with the issue of transgender education.
(Image credit: Teresa Mathew)
From Molly Ball’s feature on Kellyanne Conway in the March 2017 issue:
When Conway’s critics pile on, she just keeps spinning. “She can stand in the breach and take incoming all day long,” Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist, told me. “That’s something you can’t coach.” She’s figured out that she doesn’t need to win the argument. All she has to do is craft a semi-plausible (if not entirely coherent) counternarrative, so that those who don’t want to look past the facade of Trump’s Potemkin village don’t have to.
(credit: WG600; Carolyn Kaster / AP; NASA)
Can Wall Street save Trump from himself? William D. Cohen asks in the March 2017 issue.
(Image: Doug Chayka)
Alex Wagner exhumes America’s tortured relationship with illegal deportation and relates it to Trump’s draft executive order aimed at “protecting U.S. jobs,” and one that would shut America’s doors to immigrants most likely to require public assistance. Read America’s Forgotten History of Illegal Deportations.
How will history remember your timeline? Enter your birthday to measure your life against the backdrop of history in The Atlantic’s Life Timeline.
From David Wise’s cover story, The President and the Press in the April 1973 issue:
The First Amendment clearly protects the printed press. But the Founding Fathers, after all, did not foresee the advent of television, and the degree to which broadcasting is protected by the First Amendment has been subject to shifting interpretation. Technology has outpaced the Constitution, and the result is a major paradox: television news, which has the greatest impact on the public, is the most vulnerable and the least protected news medium.
(Lionsgate / Paul Spella / The Atlantic)
(Amazon Studios / Paul Spella / The Atlantic)
(Richard Shotwell / Invision / AP / Paul Spella / The Atlantic)
For a full recap, here’s our liveblog from the Oscars 2017.
And the Best Picture award goes to… ‘Moonlight.’ No, really. Read Megan Garber on the most exciting moment of the Oscars and the power of shock.
(A24 / Paul Spella / The Atlantic)
Listen to the audio version of Frum’s cover story here: https://soundcloud.com/user-154380542/how-to-build-an-autocracy-david-frum-the-atlantic-march-2017
Read Alana Semuel’s fascinating look at the much looked-over period during the late 19th century when blacks and whites in the U.S. South lived near each other. Read ‘Segregation Had to Be Invented’
Read more from David Frum in the March 2017 issue.
Read more from David Frum in the March 2017 cover story, “How to Build an Autocracy”
Like the Obamas, many of Trump’s critics have become rather skilled at speaking about him without ever saying his name. Read Elizabeth Limback on not saying his name.
(credit: NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP / GETTY / Paul Spella / The Atlantic)
Photographer Ann Sophie Lindström spent several months documenting a group of horsemen in North Philadelphia who have been countering crime through their love for horses. For more riveting photos of the equestrians of North Philly, here’s this week’s Spotlight essay from Emily Anne Epstein.
A stallion named Dusty rears up as Jamil Prattis, 25, leads him to the lot across from the Fletcher Street Stables, October 19, 2013. Jamil became involved with the horses when he was 12 years old, after he saw a group of urban cowboys riding through the streets of North Philadelphia. (Ann Sophie Lindström)
Jamil Prattis sits in front of his house on French Street, May 23, 2014. (Ann Sophie Lindström)
Stephfon Darnell Tolbert, 31, teases a pony named Harlem, making him rear up, October 2, 2013. Harlem is known for being aggressive when someone gets too close. (Ann Sophie Lindström)
A horse is tied up in front of a vacant lot on Fletcher Street while horsemen clean the stalls, October 6, 2016. (Ann Sophie Lindström)
Stable manager Edward E. Ward cuddles a horse named Maverick, September 29, 2013. (Ann Sophie Lindström)
Tymeir Sanders, 17, stops by a friend’s house on West Harold Street while out on a ride with Rosie, June 1, 2014. (Ann Sophie Lindström)
Stephfon Darnell Tolbert, 24, prepares feed for the horses, October 16, 2016. The horsemen have tack rooms where they keep supplies, feed, and hay. (Ann Sophie Lindström)
Donnell Glenn takes Cash out for an evening walk, October 9, 2013. (Ann Sophie Lindström)
Stevie Spann, 50, checks on the horses before closing the stable for the evening, August 22, 2014. (Ann Sophie Lindström)
Jamil Prattis, Stevie Spann, and Nate Benson sit inside a horse trailer to escape the sun and smoke, May 25, 2014. (Ann Sophie Lindström)
There is no indoor arena at the Fletcher Stable, so the horsemen like use the vacant lot across the street to train their animals, October 6, 2013. (Ann Sophie Lindström)
Romere Burch,13, rides bareback on a stallion named Ace N da Whole on Glennwood Avenue, October 3, 2013. (Ann Sophie Lindström)
Jonathan Merritt poses a fascinating question: Is AI a threat to Christianity? Read more on the answer (if there is one) here.
Exchange-traded funds are challenging the status quo in investment management when it comes to diversity—including who’s in charge. Read Bethany Mclean’s piece, “Wall Street Diversifies Itself,” from the March 2017 issue.
(credit: Doug Chayka / The Atlantic)
Donald Trump’s global friends, frenemies, and enemies: a cheat sheet.
(photo credit: Jim Bourg / Getty / Chones / Dn Br / Shutterstock / Zak Bickel / The Atlantic)
Welcome to Putin’s world. From the March 2017 issue, read Frankin Foer’s story on how the Russian president became the ideological hero of nationalists everywhere.
(credit: Edmon De Haro; Alexei Nikolsky / Getty)
Read David Frum’s cover story from the March 2017 issue. In a cautionary report, Frum lays out how the preconditions already exist in the U.S. for a leader like Donald Trump to lead the country down a path toward illiberalism.
#Twins. Read more about how Jay Z and Beyoncé made marriage cool.
(credit: Matt Herring / The Atlantic)
It’s not too late to choose a side! Here’s Robert O’Connell’s easy-to-follow guide for choosing your Super Bowl allegiance.
(image credit: USA Today Sports / Jim Tanner / Mario Anzuoni / Paulo Whitaker / Reuters / Jim Rogash / Paras Griffin / Getty / Paul Spella / The Atlantic)
Julia Ioffe draws from her parents’ experience as immigrants from Moscow in this powerful response to Trump’s immigration ban. Read the full story This Is What It’s Like to Come to the United States as a Refugee
Read Megan Garber on #FreeMelania in On Pitying Melania
Continuing our ‘When is America at its best?” series, here are several interviews taken with people on the streets of Manhattan.
John Moody, 35, State Farm Agent
Lives in Charlotte, North Carolina
I think America is unfortunately at its best when there are events that force us to come together—9/11, major storms, catastrophic events—are what really brings us out together. Kind of like the church shooting we had in Charleston, South Carolina. We were living in Columbia, South Carolina, at the time and it really kind of brought everybody together. There wasn’t any kind of violent protest or anything like that. People were just hugging and kissing.
(Credit: Gifriends)
Carlos Alvarado, 45, Production Manager Lives in Riverdale, Bronx
Right now I think we live in two different countries. You have the urban, cosmopolitan lifestyle. And then you have a rural life that thinks that we’re all liberal elites or whatever. I think if we all just talked to each other, we could see that we have a lot in common. You know? America is at its best when we’re all together. I’m not sure if it’s a good example, but when 9/11 happened, we all became Americans. It wasn’t white, black, Spanish. We’re all Americans. So I’m not sure if a tragedy would get us together, but maybe. When we’re together is when we’re at our strongest.
(Credit: Gifriends)
Thomas Cheeseboro, 49, Warehouse Worker
Lives in Harlem, Manhattan
America’s strength is that we are “a free country” and we are a leader in the world, the free world. Freedom of speech, the rights that we have that most countries don’t have—that’s America’s strength. Creativity. Ingenuity. Thoughtfulness. Love for your fellow man. That’s what makes America.
(Credit: Gifriends)
Naomi Shaanan, 64, Retired
Lives in Israel
America is a great democracy with a beautiful history. People came out from religious persecution, and that’s what created a nice country. The Constitution is a work of art. And Americans are very proud; they’re very sure of themselves and very sure of their country.
(Credit: Gifriends)
On the day of Trump’s inauguration, John Paul Rollert decided to look at Trump the businessman, by calling into question whether or not his charisma and qualities as CEO will be enough to lead the country. Read Rollert in Presidents Aren’t CEOs.
Soon after the election, The Atlantic’s Emily Anne Epstein spoke to people out and about in Manhattan to learn how they define America. What are the country’s strengths? When is America at its best? Tourists, natives, and immigrants, from the High Line to Harlem—everyone had a different answer.
Zuleyma Peralta, 29, Ph.D. candidate
Lives in Sunnyside, Queens; emigrated from Mexico
To me, America really means trying to look for the American dream. When I came here, I came from the mountains of Guerrero. My parents were poor. My dad was struggling; even though he was a teacher, he wanted me to have a better future, so he brought me here. It wasn’t my choice, obviously, but I’m really glad he did, because he opened a world of opportunities here for me. Every day I just wake up and try to make him proud. I’m currently doing a Ph.D. Making sure that their sacrifice, and the sacrifice that they’re still making, is really worth it. And to me that’s what America symbolizes. The fact that you can come here and make something of yourself, even if you come from nothing.
(Credit: Gifriends)
Robin Glazer, 61, Director at the Creative Center at University Settlement Lives in Jersey City, New Jersey
America’s strengths are in its immigrant communities, and all the amazing things that they’ve brought to the table and influenced. I was in education for 22 years as an art teacher for a public school system here in New York. And I will tell you that every year as my classes became more diverse and rich, the artwork that came out of that was more diverse and rich. The teachers were influenced by it, the administration was influenced by it.
The best American is somebody who is inclusive of all, respectful of all, curious about all, doesn’t shut anything down—which is kind of an oxymoron in the fact that I really cannot talk to Trump supporters now and I do shut them down in my mind. People felt disenfranchised. They needed somebody to blame.
(Credit: Gifriends)
Darryl Scherba, 68, Architect
Lives in Upper East Side, Manhattan
For the last 300 or so years, we’ve been a pretty unique place in the world. Most immigrants, when they come here, they have a better understanding of what America means than most natives. We have an unbridled spirit. Optimism. A belief in the future. A sharing of disparate pasts. And a coming together, unlike most other countries in the world. And I think we’re unique in the sense that we’re a melting pot of so many nationalities.
(Credit: Gifriends)
Michael McLean, 50, Construction Worker
Lives in Upper West Side, Manhattan
I think America is at its best under turmoil. Not war, although we do respond very well to war, but when there’s a need—there’s a crisis. We are the most giving country in the world, as far as philanthropy, so when there’s a crisis, we’re at our best.
An American is someone who bleeds and is willing to defend our country. Somebody who realizes the big picture—you’re only a piece, part of the whole. Someone who can put aside their biases, their personal, political opinions, and realize what’s better for the greater good.
(Credit: Gifriends)
Revisit President Obama’s legacy on race and progressivism in Ta-Nehisi Coates’s cover story “My President Was Black”
“Addiction memoirs tend to be stories of recovery, of battling demons and emerging stronger on the other side. But nicotine is different, and so is Nicotine,” Sophie Gilbert writes. “It’s a truth universally repeated that as a drug, nicotine is more addictive than heroin or cocaine, but it’s considerably less mind-altering.” For more on the addictive (and transcendent) properties of cigarettes, read Gilbert’s review On Writing, Smoking, and the Habit of Transcendence
(Kenishirotie / photomelon / Fotolia / Paul Spella / The Atlantic)
This week’s Spotlight series features excerpts from Angela Jimenez’s new book, titled Racing Age. Jimenez has spent the last nine years traveling across the United States and Europe, photographing 81-year-olds jumping hurdles, 87-year-olds throwing discuses, and 76-year-olds pole vaulting. “Because they defy visual stereotypes, these athletes surprise us,” she said. “They are not weak, or vulnerable, or just cute: they are fierce and competitive. It is inspiring and brave, but can also be scary to see an older person push the body to its limits.” View the entire essay here.
A senior long jumper competes in the 80-84-year-old age division at the 2007 World Masters Championships Stadia (track and field competition) at Riccione Stadium in Riccione, Italy on September 6, 2007. (Angela Jimenez)
Pengxue Su, 87, of China, the oldest decathlete (and the only competitor in the 85-89 age division) competes in the discus, the second event on the second day of the men’s combined events, or decathlon, on August 6, 2015 at the Balmont Duchère stadium in Lyon, France (Angela Jimenez)
Flo Meiler, 81, of Shelburne, Vermont, left, crosses the finish line of the 800 meters, the final (and painful) event of the second day, ahead of Christel Donley, right, 80, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, winning the 80-84 age division of the women’s combined events, or heptathlon, and setting a new (pending, awaiting ratification) W80 world record on August 5, 2015 at the Laurent Gérin stadium in Venissieux, France. (Angela Jimenez)
Johnnye Valien, 82, of Los Angeles, California, is photographed competing in the 80-84 age bracket women’s shot put during the 2007 World Masters Championships Stadia (track and field competition) at Misano Adriatico Stadium in Misano Adriatico, Italy, on September 7, 2007. (Angela Jimenez)
Masters track and field triple jumper Manuel GarcÌa Carbajo, 72, of Spain, stretches between jumps at the World Masters Athletics Championship at the Stade du Rhône in Lyon, France on August 9, 2015. (Angela Jimenez)
W65 masters track and field heptathletes Ingeborg Zorzi, of Italy, left, and Terhi Kikkonen, of Finland congratulate each other at the 200-meter finish line, the end of the first day of the women’s combined events, or heptathlon, on August 4, 2015 at the Laurent Gérin stadium in Venissieux, France. (Angela Jimenez))
Manuel Gonzalez Muòoz, 95, of Veracruz, Mexico, is photographed after finishing second in the 95+ age bracket men’s 100 meter finals during the 2007 World Masters Championships Stadia (track and field competition) at Riccione Stadium in Riccione, Italy on September 7, 2007. (Angela Jimenez)
Masters track and field athletes run in the M85 55-meter dash at the USATF Masters Indoor Nationals at the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center in Boston, Massachusetts on February 23, 2008. (Angela Jimenez)
Axel Magnusson, 86, of Sweden, is photographed while competing in the 85-89 age bracket men’s long jump during the 2007 World Masters Championships Stadia (track and field competition) at Riccione Stadium in Riccione, Italy on September 6, 2007. (Angela Jimenez)
The president-elect’s choice of a long-time business partner to oversee his infrastructure program sets a dangerous precedent. For an extensive guide to Trump’s conflicts of interest, read our guide: Trump’s Interests vs. America’s.
(credit: Peter Ryan)
When it comes to corporate sponsorships, what will American sports look like in three years? What about 10? What surfaces will be left? asks Joe Pinsker in Is There Room for Sports to Get Even More Commercialized?.
(Kathy Willens / AP / Zak Bickel / The Atlantic)
Barack Obama, then and now. For a closer look at the Obama presidency, view the photo story here.
(Andrew Harnik / AP, Emmanuel Dunand / AFP)
In the Trump Tweet Tracker, we are tracking, unpacking, and updating Trump’s tweets, according to our best understanding of their significance.
Here’s the latest on Trump’s “Are We Living in Nazi Germany?” tweets.
(Spencer Platt / Getty / Zak Bickel / The Atlantic)
Ian Bogost offers praise and scrutiny for President Obama’s social media savvy in Obama Was Too Good at Social Media.
In this week’s Spotlight essay, Exploring Alaska’s Roadside Glaciers, Emily Epstein features Anchorage-based photographer Mark Meyer, who races against climate change to photograph as many of Alaska’s glaciers as possible.
A hiker photographs the opening of a moulin—a tunnel that courses though the glacier—in the ceiling of a cave under the Mendenhall Glacier, June 16, 2014. Glacial caves are constantly changing; this cave collapsed a few weeks after this photograph was taken. (Mark Meyer)
An ice wall and exposed crevasse in the Matanuska Glacier, July 22, 2016. (Mark Meyer)
Early morning in front of the Worthington Glacier near Valdez, July 3, 2016. This is the view from an observation deck that is just a short walk from a parking lot and a paved trail. (Mark Meyer)
Ice climbers near the bottom of the ice falls on the Matanuska Glacier, July 22, 2016. During the summer months, guided ice-climbing trips—ranging from simple introductions to the sport to all-day, intensive courses—are available from local guides. (Mark Meyer)
The glaciers don’t crush all the rocks they transport. Those that remain intact are deposited as the glacier retreats and are known as “erratics.” Erratics can range in size from enormous boulders the size of buildings to small boulders, like this one near the terminus of the Matanuska Glacier, July 29, 2009. (Mark Meyer)
A climber scales the face of one of the Matanuska Glacier seracs, July 22, 2016. (Mark Meyer)
An ice “beach” along a supra-glacial lake on the Matanuska Glacier, July 2009. Lakes of melt water often form on glaciers; they can be stable and last for years or ephemeral, quickly draining when crevasses open under the surface. (Mark Meyer)
A guide uses crampons to climb over a moulin on the Mendenhall Glacier, June 16, 2014. Moulins form when melt water and runoff find small cracks and depressions in the glacial surface and erode the ice, creating tunnels. The moulins can be dangerous and extremely deep, leading into the internal plumbing of the glacier. (Mark Meyer)
A hiker (bottom right) is dwarfed by the massive, heavily crevassed ice fall where the Harding Icefield begins its descent into Exit Glacier, August 27, 2016. (Mark Meyer)
Helicopters ferry tourists above the Mendenhall Glacier for aerial views, July 26, 2012. Although several vistas are reachable by foot, many visitors opt to go up in helicopters—a quicker, if more expensive, option. (Mark Meyer)
Jessica Taft pauses above the Harding Icefield, August 27, 2016. The ice field is thousands of feet thick, but it does not completely cover the mountains; those peaks that stick through are called “nunataks,” from the Inuit word for “lonely peak.” (Mark Meyer)
In a new paper, researchers find that advising women to “always negotiate” might not be in their best interest—because, it seems, women seem to already know when negotiations won’t work out in their favor. Read more in Olga Khazan’s story Women Know When Negotiating Isn’t Worth It.
(PeopleImages / Getty)