New from me: I went deep on the way that generative AI and chatbots act as wormholes, pushing us deeper into our own minds. They threaten to compound the problems of algorithmic targeting that have festered unaddressed for years and years—what comes next may be even more alienating and isolating (🎁)

Patti Smith spoke with @amyweissmeyer.bsky.social over matcha lattes about her new memoir, “Bread of Angels.” In the book, Smith reflects on her lifetime of reinvention—and the twists in her story that have surprised even her. Read more from their conversation:

I spoke to Patti Smith about her new memoir, Bread of Angels—a book about childhood, fame, marriage, motherhood and so much more that also includes a big revelation about her heritage www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

For our November issue marking 250 years of the American experiment, the artist Joe McKendry painted a tableau of figures drawn from the stories in the issue—capturing the Revolutionary Era in all of its complexity, contradictions, and ingenuity. Read more: https://theatln.tc/zEfqnh1q

"One by one, American leaders supposedly committed to principles of free speech, due process, democracy, and equality have abandoned those ideals when menaced by the Trump administration." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Important piece by my colleague Gisela Salim-Peyer www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Today is a good day to read @mckaycoppins.bsky.social on the mind games, sibling rivalry, and war for power that culminated in Lachlan Murdoch winning his family’s succession fight: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

When America entered World War I, Joseph Kurihara became a soldier. When it entered World War II, he became a prisoner, a dissident, and ultimately an exile. @andrewaoyama.bsky.social tells his story in our August issue:

It’s official: Planned Parenthood has been (mostly) defunded for a year My quick explainer:

“Ms. Glazer, 38, said former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, the front-runner, reminded her of a ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles villain.’” www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/n...

“What we were promised was a reckoning, whatever that meant. What we got was a day off.” www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

🧵 Last year, I came across one of the most harrowing studies I've ever read. It found that 1 in 4 unresponsive brain-injury patients—many considered vegetative—might be cognitively aware but trapped inside their bodies. Could this be true? What did it mean? www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

I learned so much from this amazing @sarahzhang.bsky.social piece about the human brain and consciousness—which it turns out scientists are only just beginning to understand. Like everything Sarah writes, this is an utterly fascinating, deeply human story: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Carl Hiaasen’s novels made him synonymous with “Florida Weird,” @amyweissmeyer.bsky.social writes. Now it seems like we’re all living in one of his books. https://theatln.tc/Br7uYfWp

Every book published in the United States is sent to the Library of Congress. Also, if you are under 16 you cannot use the reading room or order books.

To say that something is straight out of a Carl Hiaasen novel is only a slightly less clichéd way of saying that truth, especially in Florida, is stranger than fiction. For @theatlantic.com's June issue, I went to Vero Beach to talk to @carlhiaasen.com himself. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Truly, we are all living in a Carl Hiaasen novel! www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

In an executive order, Trump targeted the Smithsonian and the National Museum of African American History & Culture suggesting that it is “divisive” and pedaling “improper ideology.” So, I took a trip back to the museum, and what I saw was a place trying to tell the unvarnished truth about America.

Lot of people need to grow spines, and fast. @engber.bsky.social reports on PBS's decision to pull, then reinstate, a doc about a trans gamer:

"The Cuomo group’s promises appear to have amounted to little beyond a few private informational receptions and opinion essays." www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/n...

I've spent the past year talking to James Murdoch about his father's "twisted" behavior, the mind games at the family-counseling retreat, how Fox News really works, and the war over his family's media empire. My cover story for The Atlantic's April edition: theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

It was such a privilege to get to work with @adriennelaf.bsky.social on this smart, thoughtful, thought-provoking story about Hawai'i—and America itself.