Books & Culture

The former teen pop star has become a new emblem of “Veracruz sound.”

The 1995 classic became as much a sociological phenomenon as an artistic one—but its designation as a “chick flick” belies its emotional sophistication and intelligence.

The print edition of Merriam-Webster was once a touchstone of authority and stability. Then the internet brought about a revolution.

Bénédicte Savoy is Europe’s leading advocate for the repatriation of cultural heritage. Now, in the wake of a shocking heist, she’s bringing her ideas to the Louvre.

The man from Kabul had warned about the number of men assigned to each room. “I won’t lie to you,” he had said. “You’ll be uncomfortable. You’ll have to adjust.”

The New Yorker’s editors and critics choose this year’s essential reads in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.

The director of the Studio Museum chooses some of her most beloved books about the neighborhood—both as a place and as an anchor for Black cultural consciousness.

Two recent books follow young religious converts down the winding back roads of belief.

In Park Chan-wook’s adaptation of Donald E. Westlake’s crime novel, Lee Byung-hun plays a newly laid-off executive who launches his own campaign of mass termination.

Jim Jarmusch’s three-part drama, set in New Jersey, Dublin, and Paris, casts such notables as Adam Driver and Cate Blanchett in wry, ironic probes of grown children’s relationships with their parents.

In Josh Safdie’s hectic new film, Timothée Chalamet plays a gifted Ping-Pong player who’s also a born performer.

In the Chinese director’s third feature, the pop idol Jackson Yee plays a shape-shifting dreamer who gets lost in a densely allusive maze of stories and genres.

Our restaurant critic rounds up her favorite menu items from a year of eating out.

The city has vaunted sourdough loaves and endlessly hyped croissants. Diljān, in Brooklyn Heights, brings a classic Afghan flatbread into the mix.

Under the chef Mark Ladner, the famous Greenwich Village trattoria aims for selective nostalgia.

Our staff expert recommends a collection of grinders, kettles, and other devices worth poring over.

Rachel Sennott, the HBO series’ creator and star, may be a relative newcomer to Los Angeles, but she’s a native of the show’s true setting: the internet.

This year, Hollywood’s decline was evident from its output—but a few great, conversation-starting shows made our critic crave the return of the water cooler.

The comedian’s new HBO series is full of characters who possess their own sparks of madness.

Taylor Sheridan’s oil-industry drama trades in gender stereotypes, reactionary politics, and blatant product placement. Why, then, is it so damn satisfying?

It’s been the year of Molière, and therefore the year of the liar, the hypocrite, the poseur, the clown.

In a year when the entertainment industry embraced the artificial, extraordinary human acts—from Sarah Snook’s one-woman “Dorian Gray” to Michael B. Jordan’s twin turn in “Sinners”—made their mark.

June Squibb sparkles opposite Cynthia Nixon in a futuristic drama, and Michelle Williams loses her way in Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer Prize winner.

It was a banner year for generation-defining performance, both up- and downtown.

Early on, movies had no sound, but musicians provided live accompaniment. The tradition continues.

A list of songs I loved in 2025.

The poet Gabrielle Calvocoressi talks with Kevin Young, The New Yorker’s poetry editor, about their newest collection, “The New Economy,” and poetry’s role in addressing grief.

Critics love to make these kinds of breathless pronouncements. But with this band, currently on tour to promote its album “Getting Killed,” controlled hysteria is sort of the point.