Sponsored by University of Chicago Press

Our May 23 issue is now online, with Joanna Biggs on Madonna undaunted, Fintan O’Toole on Henrik Ibsen, Martin Filler on supertall skyscraper saturation, Timothy Garton Ash on the future of Germany, Pamela Druckerman on Jill Biden, Matthew Aucoin on a masterpiece of Finnish opera, Tiya Miles on the slaveholding Jesuits, Clair Wills on Hilary Mantel’s arched eyebrow, Mike Jay on the science and pleasure of MDMA, Quinn Slobodian on Britain’s financial empire, Stephen Breyer on originalism’s flaws, poems by Walt Hunter and Ansel Elkins, and much more.

Joanna Biggs
‘Give Me Joy’

Madonna’s genius is not just for controversy, or for pressing on the fissures in femininity, or for her bold support of once-unpopular causes. It is for doing it all with no apology.

Mike Jay
Ecstasy’s Odyssey

When the creator of MDMA first experimented with the drug, he felt a mellow sensation that he compared to “a low-calorie martini.”

Fintan O’Toole
The Whistleblower We Deserve

The ambiguous hero of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People is a man of science who insists on the primacy of truth and evidence. But he’s also, possibly, a bit of a fascist.

Pamela Druckerman
Dr. B

Jill Biden is a barrier-breaking national figure. What are we to make of the wholesome, at times bland story she tells about herself?

On the NYR Online

Sean Wilentz
The Immunity Con

For the first time in American history, the supreme judicial authority is parsing how much criminality to permit the chief executive.

Special Offer
Subscribe for just $1 an issue

Get the deal

Politics   Literature   Arts   Ideas

You are receiving this message because you signed up
for email newsletters from The New York Review.

Update your address or preferences

View this newsletter online

The New York Review of Books
207 East 32nd Street, New York, NY 10016-6305