Unsociable and Unsustainable
Residents in luxury buildings are rarely swayed by the economic calculus of saving energy. What does this mean for architecture that tries to respond to local climates and global warming?
Eight Women in Love
“When she met him, she was holding a bowl of tabbouleh. He wasn’t famous at the time. Just a promising upstart in the Ba’ath party. And she liked everything about him from the start. His blue silk suit. His golden eyes.” The women left in the wake of eight of modern history’s worst despots.
The Clean
A former New York City house cleaner reflects on the odd materiality of other people’s lives.
Emptiness
“Narcissists are imitators par excellence. And they do not copy the small, boring parts of selves.” An excerpt from n+1 editor Kristen Dombek’s first book, The Selfishness of Others: An Essay on the Fear of Narcissism.
The Last Last Summer: Donald Trump and the Fall of Atlantic City
“Trump, a man addicted to success, and—if his oration is any indication—a man with extremely limited reserves of self-control, can’t ever gamble, because he can’t ever lose. I’d bet that Trump is barely even familiar with the table rules, for the simple reason that he doesn’t have to be; all he has to know are the odds to know that he can’t beat them. Having owned the house, he’ll never tempt the house. All he can do is torch it. “
Miracles and Mummeries: Antonin Scalia and American Religion
Catholicism and conservatism on the Supreme Court: “The Constitution that I interpret and apply,” Scalia wrote in 2002, “is not living but dead — or, as I prefer to put it, enduring.”
Uncanny Valley
Anna Wiener on the hollow promise of San Francisco’s startup life. “’I just hope this is all worth it,’ she spits in my direction. I know what she means — she’s talking about money — but I also know how much equity she has, and I’m confident that even in the best possible scenario, whatever she’s experiencing is definitely not.”
H.
A powerful essay on heroin and harm-reduction that centers on the author’s relationship with her uncle, who is a recovering addict and long-term methadone user.
The Outfield
Spring training, scheming, and lingerie parties: a short story about a community of baseball wives in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Evil but Stupid
“Why isn’t the media more paranoid?” Another look at Seymour Hersh’s Osama bin Laden exposé, and why the media rushed to dismiss it.