Can Joe Biden’s Center Hold?

Plus: Steve Coll on Louis DeJoy’s testimony, Anthony Lane on “Tesla,” and Rebecca Mead on gardening. View in browser | Update your preferences Profiles Can Joe Biden’s Center Hold? After a career built on incremental progress, Joe Biden is promising a Presidency of transformational change. The election will test whether his campaign can bring together a divided Party and a beleaguered country. By Evan Osnos Comment Did the Democratic National Convention Go Too Smoothly? An in-person event might have exposed conflicts in the Party, but it also might have offered a chance to address them. By Amy Davidson Sorkin Daily Comment What Was Missing from the Postmaster General’s Senate Testimony Louis DeJoy offered few specifics to assuage fears that the U.S. Postal Service may fail American democracy at this hour of crisis. By Steve Coll PAID POST God’s Shadow Boldly Reveals the Ottoman Empire’s Vital Importance Alan Mikhail’s “impressive revisionist history” of Sultan Selim I’s legacy “restores the Ottoman Empire to its rightful place as a ‘fulcrum’ of global power” (Kirkus Reviews). The result? “A major historical work and a genuine page-turner” (Publishers Weekly). The Current Cinema What Would Nikola Tesla Make of a MacBook? “Tesla” crackles with the electricity pioneer’s moody intellect and the jarring presence of modern technology. By Anthony Lane Culture and More The Theatre The Urgency of Anna Deavere Smith’s “Twilight: Los Angeles” The pandemic cut short the playwright’s residency at the Signature Theatre, but her 1993 play is available to stream, and feels as incisive as ever. By Vinson Cunningham Culture Desk When June Jordan and Buckminster Fuller Tried to Redesign Harlem The “Skyrise for Harlem” project speaks with resonant clarity in this summer of uprisings. By Claire Schwartz Annals of Horticulture The Therapeutic Power of Gardening Can anxious minds find solace working with plants? A therapist and her husband, a garden designer, say yes. By Rebecca Mead Humor and More Daily Shouts Plant-Based Alternatives for the Cannibal Palate A surprising number of ingredients taste like human remains. By Brittani Nichols and Annah Feinberg Cryptic Crossword The Cryptic Crossword: No. 80 Reportedly didn’t see Niagara Falls feature (4). By Fraser Simpson This e-mail was sent to you by The New Yorker. To insure delivery, we recommend adding newyorker@newsletters.newyorker.com, to your contacts, while noting that it is a no-reply address. Please send all newsletter feedback to tnyinbox@newyorker.com. For more from The New Yorker, sign up for our newsletters, shop the store, and sign in to newyorker.com, where subscribers always have unlimited access. Contact us with questions. View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2020. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.