The Atlantic Out Loud

Why did Google’s supposedly teen-friendly chatbot say it wanted to tie me up? By Lila Shroff From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠August 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Hollywood taught a generation to fear nuclear catastrophe By Tom Nichols From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠August 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Joseph Kurihara lost his faith in America By Andrew Aoyama From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠August 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As American power recedes, South Korea, Japan, and a host of other countries may pursue the bomb. By Ross Andersen From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠August 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lethality alone doesn’t win wars. By Mike Nelson From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠August 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My futile quest to avoid the material that my entire world is made out of By Annie Lowrey From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠August 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A short story By Nicole Krauss From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠August 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pro-wrestling—and America?—were never the same. By James Parker From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠August 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How the novelist turned the violence and randomness of war into a cosmic joke By Noah Hawley From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠August 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Claire McCardell changed women’s fashion By Julia Turner From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠August 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Insomnia has become a public-health emergency. By Jennifer Senior From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠August 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The contours of World War III are visible in numerous conflicts. The president of the United States is not ready. By Jeffrey Goldberg From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠August 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why does the power to launch nuclear weapons rest with a single American? By Tom Nichols From the ⁠⁠⁠⁠August 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At night, she worked on her novels. By day, as an editor at Random House, she championed a new generation of writers. By Clint Smith From the ⁠⁠⁠August 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Richard Ellmann made James Joyce a hero to generations of readers and scholars By Eric Bulson From the ⁠⁠⁠July 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How the legendary rock band discovered the music of Clifton Chenier By Reya Hart From the ⁠⁠⁠July 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why are some Iraqis so good at figuring out when a person is lying? By Jason Anthony From the ⁠⁠⁠July 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Tracy Anderson built an exercise empire By Xochitl Gonzalez From the ⁠⁠⁠July 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What years of witnessing executions taught me about sin, mercy, and the possibility of redemption By Elizabeth Bruenig From the ⁠⁠⁠July 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What the great teen movies tell us about American adolescence By Hillary Kelly From the ⁠⁠⁠July 2025 issue⁠⁠⁠. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices