December 2024

by Dean Kissick,

[Folio]

In the Rockets’ Red Glare

The past and future of hot-rodding in America

by Rachel Kushner,

[Letter from Connecticut]

After the Deluge

A small town faces down climate disaster

by Gary Greenberg,

Harper’s Magazine welcomes reader response.

Email us about articles in the magazine.

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of Americans who have ever evacuated their homes because of severe weather : 1/5

[Harper’s Index]

Who say they could definitely afford to stay elsewhere if they had to evacuate : 1/3

[Harper’s Index]

Number of countries whose carbon emissions exceeded those caused by Canada’s wildfires last year : 3

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of emergency calls to U.S. fire departments that were about an actual fire in 1980 : 28

[Harper’s Index]

In 2023 : 4

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated number of Florida police officers who have been fired by another Florida police department : 1,100

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of Americans who say that it is safe to walk alone at night in their neighborhood : 72

[Harper’s Index]

Of Salvadorans : 88

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of Americans who are very confident that the food in grocery stores is safe to eat : 1/4

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage increase since 2020 in the number of food recalls in the United States : 20

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of Americans who stockpile nonperishable foods : 55

[Harper’s Index]

Who would stockpile even more if they had space : 42

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. public school teachers in 2018 who said that the stress and disappointment of their jobs were “worth it” : 72

[Harper’s Index]

Who say so today : 42

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of Goldman Sachs junior analysts and associates who work more than 90 hours per week : 63

[Harper’s Index]

Average number of hours that they slept per night last year : 4.9

[Harper’s Index]

Average score, on a 1–10 scale, that they gave their physical health before starting at Goldman Sachs : 8.1

[Harper’s Index]

Chance that an actively managed investment fund outperformed the S&P 500 last year : 1 in 5

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum portion of the S&P 500’s market cap accounted for by companies currently under federal antitrust investigation : 1/3

[Harper’s Index]

Average amount that white American women are paid for selling their eggs to fertility clinics : $11,000

[Harper’s Index]

That black American women are paid : $7,000

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage by which legislation proposed by a U.S. governor in a major speech is more likely to pass if the governor is a woman : 20

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of deaths that antibiotic resistance is projected to cause globally by 2050 : 39,000,000

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of deaths by euthanasia in the Netherlands last year : 9,068

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of all deaths in the Netherlands that this represented : 1/20

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage change since 2002 in the alcohol consumption of the average person in Ireland : –30

[Harper’s Index]

Of the average American : +14

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated amount stored on unused gift cards in the United States : $27,000,000,000

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage change since 2021 in the portion of Americans who want to receive books for the holidays : −13

[Harper’s Index]

Who want to receive personal-care and beauty products : +25

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage increase since 2019 in the number of breast-augmentation surgeries performed in United States : 6

[Harper’s Index]

In the number of cosmetic breast-reduction surgeries : 64

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of Americans aged 18–27 who wish that Instagram had never been invented : 1/3

[Harper’s Index]

Amount spent by Meta last year on Mark Zuckerberg’s personal security : $23,400,000

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of American women who say they would probably or definitely clone themselves if given the opportunity : 1/10

[Harper’s Index]

Of American men : 1/4

Readings

[Essay]

Fighting Words

by Jackson Lears, Karen Parker Lears,

[Terminology]

Editors in Beef

by Susan Mulcahy, Frank DiGiacomo,

[Dictation]

Gargouillade

by Emily Skillings,

Inflamed, a painting by Marcus Jahmal, whose work was on view last month as part of the exhibition Charismatic Goods, at CANADA, in New York City.

Panhandling signs collected by the photographer Matt Black during his travels across the United States between 2014 and 2020, from his book American Artifacts, which was published last month by Thames & Hudson.

Some Dinner, a painting by Yoo Geun-Taek, whose work was on view last month as part of the exhibition Phantom Rooms, at Newchild Gallery, in Antwerp, Belgium.

[Letters]

December 2024

The Painted Protest

How politics destroyed contemporary art

In the Rockets’ Red Glare

The past and future of hot-rodding in America

After the Deluge

A small town faces down climate disaster

Portion of Americans who have ever evacuated their homes because of severe weather : 1/5

Who say they could definitely afford to stay elsewhere if they had to evacuate : 1/3

Number of countries whose carbon emissions exceeded those caused by Canada’s wildfires last year : 3

Percentage of emergency calls to U.S. fire departments that were about an actual fire in 1980 : 28

In 2023 : 4

Estimated number of Florida police officers who have been fired by another Florida police department : 1,100

Percentage of Americans who say that it is safe to walk alone at night in their neighborhood : 72

Of Salvadorans : 88

Portion of Americans who are very confident that the food in grocery stores is safe to eat : 1/4

Percentage increase since 2020 in the number of food recalls in the United States : 20

Percentage of Americans who stockpile nonperishable foods : 55

Who would stockpile even more if they had space : 42

Percentage of U.S. public school teachers in 2018 who said that the stress and disappointment of their jobs were “worth it” : 72

Who say so today : 42

Percentage of Goldman Sachs junior analysts and associates who work more than 90 hours per week : 63

Average number of hours that they slept per night last year : 4.9

Average score, on a 1–10 scale, that they gave their physical health before starting at Goldman Sachs : 8.1

Average score they gave while working at the company : 4.2

Portion of U.S. households that owned mutual-fund shares in 1980 : 1/20

That owns mutual-fund shares today : 1/2

Chance that an actively managed investment fund outperformed the S&P 500 last year : 1 in 5

Minimum portion of the S&P 500’s market cap accounted for by companies currently under federal antitrust investigation : 1/3

Average amount that white American women are paid for selling their eggs to fertility clinics : $11,000

That black American women are paid : $7,000

Percentage by which legislation proposed by a U.S. governor in a major speech is more likely to pass if the governor is a woman : 20

Minimum number of deaths that antibiotic resistance is projected to cause globally by 2050 : 39,000,000

Minimum number of deaths by euthanasia in the Netherlands last year : 9,068

Portion of all deaths in the Netherlands that this represented : 1/20

Percentage change since 2002 in the alcohol consumption of the average person in Ireland : –30

Of the average American : +14

Estimated amount stored on unused gift cards in the United States : $27,000,000,000

Percentage change since 2021 in the portion of Americans who want to receive books for the holidays : −13

Who want to receive personal-care and beauty products : +25

Percentage increase since 2019 in the number of breast-augmentation surgeries performed in United States : 6

In the number of cosmetic breast-reduction surgeries : 64

Portion of Americans aged 18–27 who wish that Instagram had never been invented : 1/3

Amount spent by Meta last year on Mark Zuckerberg’s personal security : $23,400,000

Portion of American women who say they would probably or definitely clone themselves if given the opportunity : 1/10

Of American men : 1/4

Readings

Fighting Words

Dishonorable Discharge

Editors in Beef

Jam on Pasta

Wavelength

Craft Work

Sphere of Affluence

String Theory

The Late Mistaken

Gargouillade

Letters

The First Punch

Harper’s Index

The Painted Protest

How politics destroyed contemporary art

Visual Tedium

After the Deluge

A small town faces down climate disaster

In the Rockets’ Red Glare

The past and future of hot-rodding in America

Completely Hazardous Experiments

My father’s mercury

Mare’s Milk

New Books

A Sudden, Revealing Searchlight

On Jean Strouse and the art of biography

Fast Food

See the solution to last month’s puzzle.

Findings

Mars gained and then lost a second moon in the autumn.

Scientists determined why some aging gray horses turn white faster than others.

The stranger churches of sixteenth-century London extensively spied on their congregants, noting when women accused other women of being “pocked whores.”

Evidence supporting the hypothesis that the Proto­-Indo­-European language was spread by humans on horseback may have overlooked how humans who ride cows, donkeys, and wild asses exhibit the same hip­ -socket deformations, as previously observed in twentieth­-century nuns.

Evidence supporting the hypothesis that the Proto-Indo-European language was spread by humans on horseback may have overlooked how humans who ride cows, donkeys, and wild asses exhibit the same hip -socket deformations, as previously observed in twentieth-century nuns.

EEG experts disagreed on whether, in the future, brain waves could be used to read dreams and long-term memories.

Researchers claimed that researchers have been underreporting same-sex sexual activity among animals.

Cocaine trafficking was found to threaten the golden-cheeked warbler.

Researchers debuted an 88 percent accurate hate-speech detector and a superior sarcasm detector and may be able to send messages back in time.

Increased border-wall height was tentatively linked to a thirtyfold increase in the rate of migrant drowning deaths off San Diego.

A study of brain-injured but not brain-dead patients found that many would have survived had their families not chosen to withdraw life support.