Culture
The entertainment and cultural moments that define our society.
The comedy forecast is bleak — but not as bleak as Marc Maron says it is.
This is why they love Minecraft so much.
The novel published 70 years ago that still explains America.
The second-wave matcha boom isn’t really about the tea.
There are legitimate business rationales. But could corporate fear of Trump retaliation also play a role?
It’s so easy get addicted these days. The apps are counting on it.
A celebrity memoir, a dystopian comic tour-de-force, and more of what we couldn’t put down.
The original Sex and the City ended with a fairy-tale happily ever after. It was never quite right.
This quietly subversive book has been captivating kids for generations.
If Amanda Knox’s tale is twisted, it’s worth asking who twisted it.
AI will undoubtedly shape the next 25 years. We just don’t know how yet.
How a stand-up comic’s hours-long broadcasts explain the 2020s.
The blockbuster came out just three months after 9/11. The coincidence reshaped everything.
From Lord of the Rings to the ramen craze to Ozempic, the cultural touchstones that help us understand the 21st century.
Today’s trend goes back way further than the modern influencer.
Vintage resellers are embracing livestream shopping.
The US loves to hate cheaters. The reasons why tell us a lot about how we view marriage.
This doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing.
Whisper networks apps are a bad idea, and not just because they make guys mad.
Active and passive news consumers are shifting America’s balance of power.
How Marilyn Monroe and Jean Harlow explain the star’s bizarre jeans controversy.
On literati Substack, it’s still 2005.
Have you ever thought about American Eagle this much in your life?
The eerie, baby-eyed figurines are divisive on purpose.
We have a long way to go in understanding the brain injury implicated in the NYC shooting.
What if we were a little less scared to talk about death?
What we lose when there’s no privacy in public.
Without a trial in the Idaho student murders, a wave of true crime media seeks to supply answers.
Officials and pilots are discouraging speculation. The preliminary investigation, however, is stark.
Find your next read and explore the big ideas around literature and publishing with the 2025 Summer Book Club.
Did the stalwart host finally become too dangerous for late-night?
Viral debate videos have become inescapable online.
How the beach read became so much more than escapism.
What the right gets wrong about Superman’s origins.
The debate is about a lot more than a look.
The appeal — and dark side — of being treated like royalty by your partner.
We need to take tweens’ skincare obsession seriously.
From witches to shipwrecks, our book critic’s favorite new releases of the year to date.