Summer 2017

Cover Story

Our Nuclear Future

We may think the bomb is back, but it never really went away

by Jeffrey Lewis

Articles

Dishonorable Behavior

The scourge of military sexual assault and the warrior’s masculine code

by Elizabeth D. Samet

Reading Thoreau at 200

Why is the seminal work of the great American transcendentalist held in such scorn today?

by William Howarth

My Mongolian Spot

An ephemeral birthmark is a rare gift, connecting me to generations spanning the centuries

by Jennifer Hope Choi

Things Sweet to Taste

Much to my regret, I never truly knew the woman who helped raise me

by Leslie Stainton

Goodbye to Westbrook Acres

As a writer walks and muses, the world’s sorrows intrude upon the peaceful streets he will be leaving

by Andrew Hudgins

Departments

Book Essay

Remembering Bob Silvers

Remembering Bob Silvers

The legendary New York Review of Books editor knew everybody, had read everything, and oversaw every stage of what he published

Garry Wills

Book Reviews

It’s Complicated

It’s Complicated

Unraveling the mystery of why people act as they do

Michael Shermer
Waking From the Dream

Waking From the Dream

Most Americans assume society is more egalitarian than it is

Nancy Isenberg
Not by Taste Alone

Not by Taste Alone

The flavor of food is produced by all of the senses

Tim Carman
England, My England

England, My England

The poet whose bucolic lyrics defined a generation

Jan Morris
Back From Oblivion

Back From Oblivion

A writer who refused to live in a world robbed of meaning

Dana Gioia
Broken Bodies, Broken Forms

Broken Bodies, Broken Forms

What relation does art bear to suffering? 

Roy Scranton
“I Will Die a Russian”

“I Will Die a Russian”

A marriage of convenience that yielded an intelligence bonanza

Sara Mansfield Taber