The Latest

Sheer Cardigan and Avenida Amsterdam, paintings by Peter F. Gross, whose work was on view in January at Linda Hodges Gallery, in Seattle. Courtesy the artist and Linda Hodges Gallery, Seattle. This photograph appears in the Readings section of the May 2014 issue of Harper’s Magazine.

“London” (detail), by Bill Brandt © Bill Brandt Archive Ltd. This photograph appears on the cover of the May 2014 issue of Harper’s Magazine.

Photographs from the birthplace of quinoa

The taming of a once-wild state

The university at the heart of Venezuelan protest

Havoc, and spoil, and ruin be thy gain

The infiltration of eastern Ukraine, the pain of Heartbleed, and the wrath of God Gazarov

“Afarsek (Peach),” a photograph by Tal Shochat, whose work was on view last March at Shulamit Gallery, in Venice, California. Courtesy the artist and Andrea Meislin Gallery, New York City. This photograph appears in the Readings section of the May 2014 issue of Harper’s Magazine.

The retail giant’s unlikely romance with small farmers

The life-coach industry, quinoa quarreling, and the comedy of Doug Stanhope

Afghanistan votes, the U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of wealthy political donors, and China standardizes its pets 

Election Day in Afghanistan’s hinterlands

Election Day in Afghanistan’s capital

Photograph by Zhang Xiao from his monograph Shanxi, published last December by Little Big Man. Courtesy the artist and Little Big Man. This photograph appears in the Readings section of the April 2014 issue of Harper’s Magazine.

Registering to vote in Kabul

Preparing for an expedition to sites affected by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill

Ennui sets into the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Guinea combats Ebola, and the distinctive arson of Cameo Crispi 

“Untitled,” a photograph by Rinko Kawauchi, whose monograph SHEETS was published in November by Kominek Books. Courtesy the artist and ROSEGALLERY, Santa Monica, California. This photograph appears in the Readings section of the April 2014 issue of Harper’s Magazine.

About town with the aspiring lords of Byzantium

Leslie Jamison on empathy in craft and in life

On CIA secrecy, torture, and war-making powers

Remembering Ahmad Sardar and his family

John Banville on Raymond Chandler, literary inhabitation, and the stylish prose of dishwasher instruction manuals

Malaysia declares Flight 370 lost, the Westboro Baptist Church loses its patriarch, and Hawaiian police officers fight for their right to have on-duty sex with prostitutes

Call Me Sometime, a painting by Angela Dufresne, whose work will be on view in September at Monya Rowe Gallery, in New York City. Courtesy the artist and Monya Rowe Gallery, New York City. This painting appears in the Readings section of the April 2014 issue of Harper’s Magazine.

Omar Shahid Hamid on novelizing Karachi's cops and gangsters

Alan Lightman on the theory of everything, technology as mediator of human experience, and empathizing with the religious impulse

“January 1998. In the windowless office shared by the Harper’s interns, I meet this hippie dude from Vermont: ponytail, spectacles of the sort favored by engineering students, lumberjack shirt.” 

Crimeans vote to join the Russian Federation, the mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 deepens, and Joseph Jambon tackles the fornicating slipper snail