ILLUSTRATION: TOM BACHTELL
COMMENT: Appointments, by Hendrik Hertzberg
The same history-making turn of events that had placed Barack Obama in line to become the forty-fourth President of the United States had handed Governor Blagojevich, Democrat of Illinois, a “golden” (his word) Christmas present…
BLOG: HENDRIK HERTZBERG

THE FINANCIAL PAGE

News You Can Lose

by James Surowiecki
The newspaper industry’s uncertain future.
THE BALANCE SHEET

THINK TANK

Osama in America

by Steve Coll
The terrorist’s trips abroad.

POEM

Greetings, Friends!

by Roger Angell
Why, yes, it’s us—we’re back, hooray,

To hug you each this holiday.
POET CORNERED

FICTION

Meeting with Enrique Lihn

by Roberto Bolaño
Lihn didn’t look like Lihn at all.
MORE FROM THE FICTION ISSUE

THE ART WORLD

Unpretty Pictures

by Peter Schjeldahl
A Marlene Dumas retrospective.
SLIDE SHOW

ON TELEVISION

Intimate Persuasion

by Nancy Franklin
Elvis Costello and William Shatner each host a talk show.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The issue of December 22 and 29, 2008.

PERSONAL HISTORY

Zadie Smith: Jokes run through a family.

ANNALS OF EDUCATION

Malcolm Gladwell: How do we hire when we can’t tell who’s right for the job?

LETTER FROM PASHMUL

Graeme Wood: An ethnic-minority force enters a Taliban stronghold.

PROFILES

Larissa MacFarquhar: Naomi Klein and the new new left.

ONLINE ONLY

Ask the Author: Submit a question for Deborah Treisman, the fiction editor.

ONLINE ONLY

Audio: Zadie Smith discusses comedy and her family.

ONLINE ONLY

Slide Show: Paintings and drawings from the Marlene Dumas retrospective “Measuring Your Own Grave” at MOMA.

ONLINE ONLY

Audio: Dorothy Wickenden hosts a discussion about Rod Blagojevich’s corruption scandal.

COMMENT

Hendrik Hertzberg: How to fill a Senate seat.

COMMENT

George Packer: The lessons of Mumbai.

COMMENT

Elizabeth Kolbert: Letting Detroit fail.

COMMENT

Hendrik Hertzberg: The marrying kind.

THE TALK OF THE TOWN

Ben McGrath: The star of the Notorious B.I.G. movie.

THE TALK OF THE TOWN

Lauren Collins: Brown-bagging on Fifth Avenue.

THE TALK OF THE TOWN

Lizzie Widdicombe: Shakespeare’s Shylock gets an appeal.

THE TALK OF THE TOWN

Rebecca Mead: An all-star organist.

THE FINANCIAL PAGE

James Surowiecki: The newspaper industry’s uncertain future.

THE FINANCIAL PAGE

James Surowiecki: Obama’s economic team.

THE FINANCIAL PAGE

James Surowiecki: On how we created the food crisis.

THE FINANCIAL PAGE

James Surowiecki: On the data surplus.

THE FINANCIAL PAGE

MORE FINANCIAL PAGE

SHOUTS & MURMURS

Larry Doyle: “Is There a Problem Here?”

SHOUTS & MURMURS

Jenny Allen: “I Have to Go Now.”

SHOUTS & MURMURS

Bruce McCall: “From the Transition Team.”

SHOUTS & MURMURS

Jack Handey: “The Plan.”

FICTION

Roberto Bolaño: “Meeting with Enrique Lihn.”

FICTION

William Trevor: “The Woman of the House.”

FICTION

Amos Oz: “Waiting.”

FICTION

Daniyal Mueenuddin: “In Other Rooms, Other Wonders.”

POETRY

Roger Angell: “Greetings, Friends!”

POETRY

Arthur Vogelsang: “The Fifth Season.”

POETRY

Dan Chiasson: “Thread.”

POETRY

Jonathan Aaron: “Acting Like a Tree.”

ARCHIVE

Zadie Smith: “You Are in Paradise.”

ARCHIVE

Zadie Smith: “Hanwell in Hell.”

ARCHIVE

Mark Twain: “Jim and the Dead Man.”

ARCHIVE

E. L. Doctorow: “Huck, Continued.”

GOINGS ON ABOUT TOWN

Our weekly cultural listings.

MOVIES

David Denby: “Revolutionary Road,” “Gran Torino,” and “The Class.”

MOVIES

Anthony Lane: “Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters,” at Film Forum.

MOVIES

Anthony Lane: “The Wrestler,” “The Reader,” and “Doubt.”

MOVIES

David Denby: Ingmar Bergman, at IFC Center.

MOVIES

THE FILM FILE

BOOKS

Darryl Pinckney: Susan Sontag’s early journals.

BOOKS

James Wood: Revisiting Richard Yates’s “Revolutionary Road.”

BOOKS

Adam Gopnik: Dr. Johnson and Mrs. Thrale.

BOOKS

Briefly Noted: “The Borgias and Their Enemies,” by Christopher Hibbert

BOOKS

MORE BOOKS

MUSIC

Alex Ross: “Daniel,” at the Cloisters.

MUSIC

Ben Greenman: Anthony Hamilton’s “The Point of It All.”

MUSIC

Alex Ross: New York celebrates Bernstein the composer.

MUSIC

Sasha Frere-Jones: Z100’s annual Jingle Ball.

TELEVISION

Nancy Franklin: Elvis Costello and William Shatner each host a talk show.

TELEVISION

Nancy Franklin: Tina Fey’s “30 Rock.”

TELEVISION

Kelefa Sanneh: “Fringe” and “The Mentalist.”

TELEVISION

Kelefa Sanneh: Saturday-night politics.

THE THEATRE

John Lahr: Two solipsists onstage.

THE THEATRE

Hilton Als: Labelle’s “Back to Now.”

THE THEATRE

Hilton Als: Stephen Sondheim on fraternal love and finance.

THE THEATRE

Hilton Als: Liza Minnelli, at the Palace.

ART

Peter Schjeldahl: A Marlene Dumas retrospective.

ART

Vince Aletti: Cindy Sherman, at Skarstedt and Metro Pictures.

ART

Andrea K. Scott: “Looking Back,” at White Columns.

ART

Peter Schjeldahl: “Beyond Babylon,” at the Met.

DANCE

Joan Acocella: Scenes from the Next Wave Festival.

DANCE

Joan Acocella: “The Return of Fräulein Maria,” at Joe’s Pub.

DANCE

Joan Acocella: A.B.T. celebrates a centennial.

DANCE

Joan Acocella: Two former Balanchine stars and their companies.

THE SKY LINE

Paul Goldberger: The new 2 Columbus Circle can’t break free of its predecessor.

THE SKY LINE

Paul Goldberger: Beijing’s great new architecture is a mixed blessing for the city.

THE SKY LINE

Paul Goldberger: Beijing’s Olympic architecture.

THE SKY LINE

Paul Goldberger: What can a designer bring to the world of architecture?

FOOD

Andrea Thompson: JoeDoe, in Manhattan.

FOOD

Lauren Collins: Secession, in Tribeca.

FOOD

Lila Byock: Char No. 4, in Cobble Hill.

FOOD

Mike Peed: Libertine, in the financial district.

FOOD

THE FOOD PAGE
 
12 15, 2008
Zadie Smith discusses comedy and family.
BLOGS
Steve Coll wonders, rhetorically, Is this still an emergency?
George Packer mourns the future of Kirkuk in Iraq.
James Surowiecki discusses why investors believe the government will help Detroit.
Sasha Frere-Jones listens to the Strokes and thinks of Pavement.
Hendrik Hertzberg hears that Newt Gingrich thinks he’s a total jerk.
The Book Bench: Discussing “Headlong,” weekly wanderings, Jonathan Aaron.
Goings On: The perfect breakfast, Prince jumps, an update from Cleveland.
The Cartoon Lounge: Why Claire Forlani is a sports figure, Bob Mankoff shoots hoops.
SEE ALL BLOG POSTS
IN THIS ISSUE
View the table of contents.
Covers
Browse the complete archive using the cover gallery.
AUDIO
All in the Family: Zadie Smith discusses comedy and family.
Long Hot Summer: Wendell Steavenson discusses Mikheil Saakashvili, the President of Georgia.
Voice of the Left: Larissa MacFarquhar on Naomi Klein and “The Shock Doctrine.”
Home for the Holidays: Roddy Doyle reads Maeve Brennan’s “Christmas Eve.”
The Transition: Dorothy Wickenden hosts a discussion on Rod Blagojevich’s corruption scandal.
MORE PODCASTS
VIDEO
Hot Seats: How an illegally logged tree becomes a toilet seat at Wal-Mart.
Not a Game: Scenarios from Virtual Iraq, with commentary by Sue Halpern.
Trapped: The ordeal of Nicholas White, who was trapped in an elevator for forty-one hours.
Stories from the Near Future: Video from the 2008 New Yorker Conference.
The Naked Campaign: Steve Brodner draws the epic battle for the White House.
SLIDE SHOWS
The Face of Death: Paintings and drawings from the Marlene Dumas retrospective at MOMA.
Secrets of the Bomb: Images and documents that tell the story behind the first atomic bomb.
Gates of History: A selection of photos and documents from the family of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Tea and Wallaby: Photojournalists share memorable on-the-job meals.

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GOINGS ON
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Goings On Blog
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