Civil War
Critics at Large
“Civil War” ’s Unsettling Images
Alex Garland’s latest film, in which the U.S. has collapsed into brutal internecine conflict, has polarized audiences with its depiction of violence—and its evasion of politics. In art and in life, how do such visuals change the viewer?
Daily Comment
How to Both-Sides a “Civil War”
In his new film, Alex Garland seems to be trying to have it both ways, using our dire politics as buzzy I.P. while tap-dancing around conversations that might get him in trouble.
The Political Scene Podcast
The Post-Civil War Precedent for the Trump Trials
Jill Lepore revisits the overlooked story of Jefferson Davis, an insurrectionist ex-President, and considers the lasting cost of leniency.
Letter from the South
The Death of a Relic Hunter
Bill Erquitt was an unforgettable character among Georgia’s many Civil War enthusiasts. After he died, his secrets came to light.
A Reporter at Large
Did a Nobel Peace Laureate Stoke a Civil War?
After Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, ended a decades-long border conflict, he was heralded as a unifier. Now critics accuse him of tearing the country apart.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Jenifer Lewis: Mother, Activist, Hurricane
The actor gives a freewheeling interview behind a piano; plus, the political scientist Barbara F. Walter on the dangers of political violence.
A Critic at Large
Race, War, and Winslow Homer
The artist’s experiences in the Civil War and after helped him transcend stereotypes in portraying Black experience.
The New Yorker Interview
The Historian Scrutinizing Our Idea of Monuments
For Erin L. Thompson, destroying monuments is “a normal part of human life.” Why has it become so divisive?
The New Yorker Radio Hour
A New Civil War in America?
The political scientist Barbara F. Walter studies political violence, and says America is nearing the danger zone. Plus, Nnedi Okorafor on writing fantasy through an African lens.
Daily Comment
Is a Civil War Ahead?
A year after the attack on the Capitol, America is suspended between democracy and autocracy.
Cultural Comment
How Cities in the American North Can Reckon with Their Monuments
There are no statues honoring the Confederacy to be found in Boston or Cambridge, but there are plenty of historic memorials that obscure the achievements of Black Americans.
The New Yorker Documentary
A Syrian Artist Remakes the Home He Cannot Visit
In Jimmy Goldblum’s film “A Broken House,” Mohamad Hafez uses found objects to make models of Damascus.
Daily Comment
When Bob Dylan Heard the Cicadas
The seventeen-year cycle of an insect intersects with history.
The Political Scene Podcast
Three Women Who Changed the World
The story of three small-town neighbors who fought for both abolition and women’s rights in the nineteenth century—a time when women weren’t supposed to fight for anything.
Annals of History
The Pre-Civil War Fight Against White Supremacy
In a country riven by racial politics, three women strove for a just society.
Books
William Faulkner’s Demons
In his own life, the novelist failed to truly acknowledge the evils of slavery and segregation. But he did so with savage thoroughness in his fiction.
Page-Turner
When the Enslaved Went South
In the four decades before the Civil War, thousands of fugitive slaves escaped from the U.S. to Mexico. Runaways found both unfamiliar risks and high rewards south of the border.
Books
Why We Keep Reinventing Abraham Lincoln
From Honest Abe to Killer Lincoln, revisionist biographers have given us countless perspectives on the Civil War President. Is there a version that’s true to his time and attuned to ours?
The Political Scene Podcast
What to Do with a Confederate Monument?
During the Civil War, some men in Maryland’s Talbot County fought on the side of slavery. Now a small town struggles with the statue that honors them, and with the meaning of history.