The 7.22.18 Issue

Highlights

Feature
George Soros Bet Big on Liberal Democracy. Now He Fears He Is Losing.
His enemies paint him as all-powerful, but the billionaire philanthropist believes that his political legacy has never been in greater jeopardy.
By Michael Steinberger
CreditDamon Winter/The New York Times
Feature
Young Jean Lee’s Unsafe Spaces
The first female Asian-American playwright on Broadway takes aim at identity and watches the audience squirm.
By Parul Sehgal
CreditPaola Kudacki for The New York Times
Feature
The Water Wars of Arizona
Attracted by lax regulations, industrial agriculture has descended on a remote valley, depleting its aquifer — leaving many residents with no water at all.
By Noah Gallagher Shannon
CreditLucas Foglia for The New York Times
First Words
America Can Never Sort Out Whether ‘Socialism’ Is Marginal or Rising
For more than a century, we’ve managed to think socialism is both a dead letter and the wave of the future — at the same time.
By Beverly Gage
CreditPhoto illustration by Nicolás Ortega. Source photographs from Getty Images.

What Can Odd, Interesting Medical Case Studies Teach Us?
Doctors can get so focused on explanation that they lose sight of the importance of description.
By Siddhartha Mukherjee
CreditPhoto illustration by Cristiana Couceiro
On Medicine
How Can I Make My Partner’s Parents More Woke?
The magazine’s Ethicist columnist on handling racially insensitive remarks from a partner’s parents and keeping a bad actor off the board of directors.
By Kwame Anthony Appiah
CreditTomi Um
The Ethicist
Parents Aren’t Good Judges of Their Kids’ Sugar Intake
Three-quarters of parents underestimated the total amount of sugar in common foods like juice, yogurt and pizza.
By Gretchen Reynolds
CreditIllustration by Celia Jacobs
Well
Letter of Recommendation: Used Clothing
You might want to forget that a stranger once owned that jacket you bought — but you shouldn’t.
By Daniel Fromson
CreditPhoto illustration by Ina Jang
Letter of Recommendation
The Case for Canned Tuna
Tasting your way to a deeply summery salad.
By Tejal Rao
CreditGentl and Hyers for The New York Times.
Eat

Parker Posey Still Loves Generation X
The actress and author on the precariousness of the movie business and shouting at people from her car.
Interview by Molly Lambert
CreditCeleste Sloman for The New York Times
Talk
How to Go Back to a Flip Phone
Wean yourself slowly from the smartphone. Pay more attention to geography.
By Malia Wollan
CreditIllustration by Radio
Tip
Judge John Hodgman on Steampunk Convention Etiquette
The complex mechanics of picking a costume.
By John Hodgman
CreditKyle Hilton
Judge John Hodgman
New Sentences: From Joseph O’Neill’s ‘Good Trouble’
The joys of a good parenthetical cannot be overstated.
By Sam Anderson
Credit
New Sentences
Behind the Cover: The Billionaire’s Losses
Inside the process for creating the covers of The New York Times Magazine. For this issue, an emotional portrait of George Soros staring off into the future.

Credit
Issue 7.22.18