Context Clues In his attempt to dramatize the birth of artificial intelligence [“The Gods of Logic,” Essay, July], Benjamín Labatut presents half-truths and decontextualized ideas. George Boole’s unification of logic…
Masters of None The practice of interviewing government officials became commonplace in the United States by the 1880s, but was considered uncouth in parts of Europe through the end of…
In Memoriam We at Harper’s Magazine are saddened by the death of our former managing editor and contributor Robert K. Manoff (1944–2024). Along with Lewis H. Lapham and others, Manoff oversaw the…
Before the Law The Harper’s Forum on American policing [“Crime and Punishment,” April] opened with the searing image of George Floyd’s murder, inviting readers to consider how we got to…
Billie’s Blues My father’s birth name was James Brown. Changing his surname was his expression of solidarity with Billie Holiday, and mandatory if he wanted to make it as a…
The Tragedies of Zionism As a contributing editor of Harper’s Magazine, I read Bernard Avishai’s cover story [“Israel’s War Within,” Report, February] with surprise that I was encountering it at…
Current Events Marzio G. Mian’s travelogue of the Volga River [“Behind the New Iron Curtain,” Letter from Russia, January] bears a profound sense of despair, well known to those of…
Vichy-Washy Robert O. Paxton writes expertly on France’s selective amnesia about the Vichy regime [“The Discreet Eminence,” Reviews, December]. But the French are not the only ones guilty of this;…
Renéssance Men In his review of All Desire Is a Desire for Being, Cynthia Haven’s selection of René Girard’s writings [“Overwhelming and Collective Murder,” Reviews, November], Sam Kriss contrasts Girard’s…
Dems the Breaks It’s remarkable that a writer with Andrew Cockburn’s progressive ideals would deem a Joe Biden candidacy evil, as in “the lesser evil” versus Trump [“Against the Current,”…
Unplanned Obsolescence What Justin E. H. Smith perceives as the younger generation’s parochial attitude toward art [“My Generation,” Essay, September] is in fact a healthy skepticism regarding claims about universalism…
Science Fiction Jason Blakely offers a persuasive critique of the scientism that was widely apparent in the early days of the pandemic [“Doctor’s Orders,” Essay, August]. Public officials justified controversial…
Ring the Alarm Jackson Lears chillingly demonstrates that the United States military favors neutral technocrats over conscientious officers when it comes to nuclear armaments [“Behind the Veil of Indifference,” Revision,…
Rules of Engagement Benjamin Schwarz and Christopher Layne claim that Russia had warned the United States since the end of the Cold War that it would violate fundamental principles of…
The Trauma Yacht Combining preposterous subject matter, pitch-perfect humor, and an irresistible voice, Lauren Oyler’s cover story [“I Really Didn’t Want to Go,” Letter from the Celebrity Beyond, May] has…
Foul Is Fair Kyle Paoletta’s article [“The Incredible Disappearing Doomsday,” Criticism, April] tracks the shifting rhetoric of climate reporting in recent years from extreme pessimism to timid optimism. Is either…
Speech Acts In support of his claim that the left is suppressing free speech [“A Climate of Fear,” Revision, March], Russell Jacoby dredges up some old news, including the PEN/Charlie…
Live and Let Die Michel Houellebecq suggests that agitating for medical assistance in dying infantilizes those who seek relief when their suffering becomes intolerable [“The European Way to Die,” Revision,…
Sun and Air Though Hillary Angelo paints a stark picture of solar energy development in the American West [“Boomtown,” Letter from Nevada, January], many studies suggest that solar farms offer…
Revolutionary Letters Michael Robbins’s essay on the apocalypse [“Apocalypse Nowish,” Essay, December] is a prime example of climate defeatism, a misguided trend in writing about the environment that privileges pessimism…
Three’s a Crowd I greatly appreciated Andrew Cockburn’s piece about the enduring views of my husband, Walter Karp [“Party Walls,” Letter from Washington, November]. Throughout his career, Walter articulated ideas…
In Memoriam Harper’s Magazine is deeply saddened by the death of our dear friend and longtime contributing editor Barbara Ehrenreich (1941–2022). Her classic book Nickel and Dimed, which chronicles the…
A Shock to the System “Can a brain implant treat drug addiction?” This is the question Zachary Siegel poses in his recent article, featuring four individuals addicted to opioids [“A…
Body Politic It’s fitting that Andrew Cockburn’s excellent overview of abortion politics [“The Fight to Choose,” Letter from Washington, August] begins with a dead woman: Savita Halappanavar, who died of…
Lax Americana As the Biden Administration escalates one conflict with a nuclear power in Europe, and stokes another in Asia, it’s encouraging to read Daniel Bessner’s call for a foreign…
La République En Film! After the soixante-huitards come the quatre-vingt-dix-septards. Rachel Kushner thus anoints an imagined community of moviegoers who, like herself, discovered Jean Eustache’s The Mother and the Whore…
Days of Being Wired Reading Hari Kunzru’s recent column [“Broken Links,” Easy Chair, May], I related to the “sheer wonder” he associates with the internet of the Nineties. In 1994,…
In Memoriam Harper’s Magazine is saddened by the loss of Nelson W. Aldrich Jr., who served as an editor at the magazine from 1971 to 1975. Best known as the…
Eros and Villains Milan Kundera once said that all great love stories begin and end outside of consummation. Agnes Callard seems to agree, though with a less romantic sentiment [“The…
Xi Who Must Be Obeyed Ian Buruma’s analysis of China’s historical evolution and President Xi Jinping’s quest for national unity is informative and well supported [“The Great Wall of Steel,”…