The Secret Shame of Middle-Class Americans
Nearly half of Americans would have trouble finding $400 to pay for an emergency. I’m one of them.
May 2016
In This Issue
The secret shame of the American middle class, fake children in Thailand, why luck matters, Bernie Sanders vs. a socialist, and more
Cover Story
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Payday Lending: Will Anything Better Replace It?
The practice is slowly being regulated out of existence. But it’s unclear where low-income Americans will find short-term loans instead.
How Warren Buffett’s Son Would Feed the World
Howard G. Buffett has spent most of his life as a farmer, with little financial support from his father—until recently. Now he runs a multibillion-dollar foundation dedicated to ending global hunger.
The Hell After ISIS
Even as the militant group loses ground in Iraq, many Sunnis say they have no hope for peace. One family’s story shows why.
Fiction: The Wall
A short story about family and class
Dispatches
Edmon de Haro Why Luck Matters More Than You Might Think
When people see themselves as self-made, they tend to be less generous and public-spirited.
Wikimedia How Islam Created Europe
In late antiquity, the religion split the Mediterranean world in two. Now it is remaking the Continent.
John Cuneo The Socialist Case Against Bernie
Eugene Puryear explains why Sanders isn’t revolutionary enough.
Rungroj Yongrit / EPA / Corbis Big in Thailand: Fake Kids
Middle-class women treat the “child angels” as though they’re real, taking them to get blowouts at salons and even giving them their own seats at restaurants.
James Corner Field Operations San Francisco’s Plan to Bury a Freeway
The city is transforming an old, major road into a new public park.
Justin Renteria Is Grit Overrated?
The downsides of dogged, single-minded persistence
Marco Goran Romano How to Boast on the Sly
A guide to bragging better
Alvaro Dominguez When Cars Fly
How driverless vehicles could change meetings, manufacturing, safety, and more
Joe McKendry The Curse of Being Cool
Popular teens are likely to become irresponsible young adults. A very short book excerpt.
The Culture File
André Carrilho The Greatest Poet Alive
The feral genius of Australia’s Les Murray
Christopher Neal How Animals Think
A new look at what humans can learn from nonhuman minds
Anthony Gerace Death and Don DeLillo
In his 17th novel, life is preserved by cryonic freezing while the apocalypse looms.
Owen Freeman What Prison Takes Away
The oldest known incarceration memoir by an African American indicts a system that destroys souls.
Metropolitan A Dark Collage of Fear and Beauty
A short book review of The Fox Was Ever the Hunter
Departments
The Conversation
Readers respond to our March 2016 cover story and more.
Graham Roumieu What Is the Greatest Prank of All Time?
A big question
Poetry
Retreat
A poem
