The 8.27.23 Issue

Highlights

1. What People Misunderstand About Rape

   Sexual assault often goes unpunished when victims fail to fight back. But investigators, psychologists and biologists all describe freezing as an involuntary response to trauma.

    By Jen Percy

   

2. The Inheritance Case That Could Unravel an Art Dynasty

   How a widow’s legal fight against the Wildenstein family of France has threatened their storied collection — and revealed the underbelly of the global art market.

    By Rachel Corbett

   

3. How a Harvard Professor Became the World’s Leading Alien Hunter

   Avi Loeb’s single-minded search for extraterrestrial life has made him the most famous practicing astronomer in the country — and possibly the most controversial.

    By Seth Fletcher

   

4. The Ethicist

   My Sister Thinks Prayer Will Cure My Cancer. How Do I Talk to Her?

   The magazine’s Ethicist columnist on relating to a sibling with a radically different worldview.

    By Kwame Anthony Appiah