Why country singers are the chroniclers of our age
A new generation of female singers are rejecting patriotic tub-thumping and documenting the dark heart of rural America.
Culture
Close encounters of the everyday kind
A new book asks if microdosing LSD could make you happier and more productive. Why might we need such a helping hand?
How we invented nature
Today we take it for granted that something called “nature” exists. But the concept owes much to a Prussian adventurer
Book review: Charges – The Supplicants
Elfriede Jelinek's play is a blistering indictment of European asylum policy, and the indifference or hostility of some Europeans.
Book review: Lincoln in the Bardo
The first novel from acclaimed short story writer George Saunders is strange and wise.
Twenty years of Brass Eye
Chris Morris's satirical programme took aim at ignorance and hypocrisy.
Is it too soon to laugh about apartheid?
In post-apartheid South Africa, comedy has become the expression of a new democratic energy
Mark Fisher (1968-2017)
We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of our contributor Mark Fisher this weekend. Mark was a unique writer; a critic, teacher and editor whose work touched and…
Can ancient Greek tragedy help to heal trauma?
An American director is using theatre to help people from different walks of life confront trauma and loss.
The brink of Armageddon
London’s secret network of underground tunnels provide a physical history of the nuclear war that never was.