April 2021

by Elliot Ackerman,

[Report]

The Business of Scenery

Why America’s national parks need new management

by Christopher Ketcham,

Harper’s Magazine welcomes reader response.

Email us about articles in the magazine.

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of American adults who are in therapy : 47

[Harper’s Index]

Who believe that the pandemic has meaningfully damaged their mental health : 62

[Harper’s Index]

Number of days a man stayed at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport because he was afraid of flying during the pandemic : 89

[Harper’s Index]

Chance that an American spent the past holiday season alone : 1 in 9

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of American men aged 18 to 24 who cite pornography as the most useful source of information on how to have sex : 39

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of American women aged 18 to 24 who cite pornography : 14

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of content creators on OnlyFans, a site for sharing explicit videos and photos with paying subscribers : 1,000,000

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of those creators who have earned more than $1,000,000 through the site : 100

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage change in the amount of total U.S. credit card debt last year : -11

[Harper’s Index]

Amount in property-tax revenue that New York City is expected to lose in 2022 on account of COVID-19 : $2,500,000,000

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage increase last year in the sale of British country houses : 11

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of ducks that have been slaughtered in France this year to stave off avian influenza : 2,000,000

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage decrease in the number of flu cases in the United States this season : 99

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of COVID-19 patients who report losing their sense of smell : 45

[Harper’s Index]

Who are found to have lost their sense of smell when examined : 80

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated portion of bitcoin that has been lost or is otherwise inaccessible : 1/5

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. online shoppers who reported having a package stolen last year : 43

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of items Amazon removed from sale in 2020 because of price gouging : 39,000,000

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum value of federal pandemic relief loans made to businesses that promote vaccine skepticism : $1,137,101

[Harper’s Index]

Factor by which U.S. police officers are more likely to use force against left-wing protesters than right-wing protesters : 3.4

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of Black Lives Matter protests during which the police used force against protesters : 5

[Harper’s Index]

Of Stop the Steal protests during which the police did so : 1

[Harper’s Index]

Number of U.S. troops deployed in Washington, D.C., on Inauguration Day : 27,750

[Harper’s Index]

Number of U.S. troops deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq on that day : 5,000

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of Americans who identified as Republicans and Democrats, respectively, at the outset of 2020 : 47, 45

[Harper’s Index]

Amount of money raised between Election Day and the end of the year by the Biden campaign : $11,400,000

[Harper’s Index]

Number of U.S. members of Congress who are not affiliated with a religion : 1

[Harper’s Index]

Amount being offered by a U.S. businessman for evidence of “consciousness after permanent bodily death” : $950,000

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of adults who would choose to know about future events if they were favorable : 44

[Harper’s Index]

Who believe that the pandemic has meaningfully damaged their mental health : 62

[Harper’s Index]

Number of days a man stayed at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport because he was afraid of flying during the pandemic : 89

[Harper’s Index]

Chance that an American spent the past holiday season alone : 1 in 9

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of American men aged 18 to 24 who cite pornography as the most useful source of information on how to have sex : 39

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of American women aged 18 to 24 who cite pornography : 14

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of content creators on OnlyFans, a site for sharing explicit videos and photos with paying subscribers : 1,000,000

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of those creators who have earned more than $1,000,000 through the site : 100

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage change in the amount of total U.S. credit card debt last year : -11

[Harper’s Index]

Amount in property-tax revenue that New York City is expected to lose in 2022 on account of COVID-19 : $2,500,000,000

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage increase last year in the sale of British country houses : 11

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of ducks that have been slaughtered in France this year to stave off avian influenza : 2,000,000

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage decrease in the number of flu cases in the United States this season : 99

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of COVID-19 patients who report losing their sense of smell : 45

[Harper’s Index]

Who are found to have lost their sense of smell when examined : 80

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated portion of bitcoin that has been lost or is otherwise inaccessible : 1/5

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. online shoppers who reported having a package stolen last year : 43

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of items Amazon removed from sale in 2020 because of price gouging : 39,000,000

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum value of federal pandemic relief loans made to businesses that promote vaccine skepticism : $1,137,101

[Harper’s Index]

Factor by which U.S. police officers are more likely to use force against left-wing protesters than right-wing protesters : 3.4

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of Black Lives Matter protests during which the police used force against protesters : 5

[Harper’s Index]

Of Stop the Steal protests during which the police did so : 1

[Harper’s Index]

Number of U.S. troops deployed in Washington, D.C., on Inauguration Day : 27,750

[Harper’s Index]

Number of U.S. troops deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq on that day : 5,000

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of Americans who identified as Republicans and Democrats, respectively, at the outset of 2020 : 47, 45

[Harper’s Index]

Amount of money raised between Election Day and the end of the year by the Biden campaign : $11,400,000

[Harper’s Index]

Number of U.S. members of Congress who are not affiliated with a religion : 1

[Harper’s Index]

Amount being offered by a U.S. businessman for evidence of “consciousness after permanent bodily death” : $950,000

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of adults who would choose to know about future events if they were favorable : 44

Readings

[Essay]

Repeat After Me

by Jacqueline Waters,

Purple Pods, a painting by Inka Essenhigh, whose work will be on view in June at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, in Vermont.

Courtesy the artist and Miles Mcenery Gallery, New York City

Moonlight, a painting by Arghavan Khosravi, whose work is on view at the Orlando Museum of Art, in Florida.

“20.09.24 #4 Sophie+Karma Board” and “18.09.18 #9 Lightning Bolt,” tintypes by Joni Sternbach, whose work was on view in January at Von Lintel Gallery, in Los Angeles. Sternbach’s monograph Surfboard was published in November.

Courtesy the artist and Von Lintel Gallery, Los Angeles

Santa Cruz Mountain Studio, a painting by Charlie Roberts, whose work will be on view this fall at Galleri Golsa, in Oslo, Norway.

Cover, a painting by Anthony Cudahy, whose work will be on view in May at Semiose, in Paris.

Purple Pods, a painting by Inka Essenhigh, whose work will be on view in June at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, in Vermont.

Courtesy the artist and Miles Mcenery Gallery, New York City

Moonlight, a painting by Arghavan Khosravi, whose work is on view at the Orlando Museum of Art, in Florida.

Courtesy the artist and Von Lintel Gallery, Los Angeles

Santa Cruz Mountain Studio, a painting by Charlie Roberts, whose work will be on view this fall at Galleri Golsa, in Oslo, Norway.

Cover, a painting by Anthony Cudahy, whose work will be on view in May at Semiose, in Paris.

Purple Pods, a painting by Inka Essenhigh, whose work will be on view in June at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, in Vermont.

Courtesy the artist and Miles Mcenery Gallery, New York City

[Letters]

A skull previously thought to belong to Cleopatra’s sister was found to be that of an Italian boy with a deformed jaw.

[Findings]

The collapse of the Qing Dynasty was driven by the quadrupling of its population and consequent rural impoverishment, an overabundance of qualified applicants for elite academic degrees, rising costs and trade deficits, and falling productivity, which were variously associated with internal unrest, opium imports, and the depletion of silver reserves.

[Findings]

Men can rate the facial attractiveness of women without paying attention, but women cannot do the same for men; gay men find the faces of purportedly fertile women and men more attractive; adolescents and adults both rate the faces of children younger than 4.6 years old as more appealing than those of older children; and body odors associated with fear quicken the visual processing of others’ facial expressions of fear.

[Findings]

The collapse of the Qing Dynasty was driven by the quadrupling of its population and consequent rural impoverishment, an overabundance of qualified applicants for elite academic degrees, rising costs and trade deficits, and falling productivity, which were variously associated with internal unrest, opium imports, and the depletion of silver reserves.

[Findings]

Men can rate the facial attractiveness of women without paying attention, but women cannot do the same for men; gay men find the faces of purportedly fertile women and men more attractive; adolescents and adults both rate the faces of children younger than 4.6 years old as more appealing than those of older children; and body odors associated with fear quicken the visual processing of others’ facial expressions of fear.

April 2021

Civil Warning

Are we living through another antebellum era?

Lost in Thought

The psychological risks of meditation

The Business of Scenery

Why America’s national parks need new management

Percentage of American adults who are in therapy : 47

Readings

Too Big, Too Frail

Male Practice

Bent Notes

Tinker, Tailor, Student, Spy

Flipscarraldo

Kill Bills

Friends with Benefits

Rumination

Cape Fear

Single White Email

The Holler Men

Hell to Pray

Repeat After Me

Letters

Campaign Literature

Harper’s Index

Civil Warning

Are we living through another antebellum era?

The Great March

Lost in Thought

The psychological risks of meditation

The Business of Scenery

Why America’s national parks need new management

Woolworth

The Crow Whisperer

What happens when we talk to animals?

Shelter in Place

The democratic designs of J.B.S. Haldane

Two Germanys

The East, the West, and the meaning of home

Lucky Woman

New Books

Tongues of Fire

The history of the black church

Every True Pleasure Is a Secret

Allan Gurganus’s Southern utopias

Twofers

Findings

A skull previously thought to belong to Cleopatra’s sister was found to be that of an Italian boy with a deformed jaw.