This Week’s Issue: The Man Behind Critical Race Theory

Plus: the Syrian double agent who disappeared in Europe; how the real Jane Roe shaped the abortion wars; and reading Dante while the world hangs in the balance. View in browser | Update your preferences Annals of Equality The Man Behind Critical Race Theory As an attorney, Derrick Bell worked on many civil-rights cases, but his doubts about their impact launched a groundbreaking school of thought. By Jelani Cobb Comment The Forever Trial at Guantánamo President Biden moved to end the war in Afghanistan, but the proceedings against the remaining war-on-terror detainees, including the 9/11 suspects, drag on. By Amy Davidson Sorkin A Reporter at Large A Syrian War Criminal and Double Agent’s Disappearance In the bloody civil war, Khaled al-Halabi switched sides. But what country does he really serve? By Ben Taub Books How the Real Jane Roe Shaped the Abortion Wars The all-too-human plaintiff of Roe v. Wade captured the messy contradictions hidden by a polarizing debate. By Margaret Talbot Onward and Upward with the Arts After a Year Without Crowds, Caroline Polachek Takes the Stage The singer-songwriter tries to hold down an uncertain moment. By Jia Tolentino Pop Music Saint Etienne’s Nineties Nostalgia The band’s new album, “I’ve Been Trying to Tell You,” conjures the complexity of an era often romanticized as one of hope and optimism. By Hua Hsu Profiles How Colm Tóibín Burrowed Inside Thomas Mann’s Head In writing his new novel, the Irish author spent years tracing the secret yearnings of Mann—who, he says, played a lifelong “game between what was revealed and what was concealed.” By D. T. Max A Critic at Large Reading Dante’s Purgatory While the World Hangs in the Balance Seven centuries after the poet’s death, we may finally be ready for his epic of punishment and penance. By Judith Thurman The Theatre Shades of Beckett in “Pass Over” The first play to open on Broadway since the shutdown, about two down-and-out young Black men on a barren block, is a strange fit for the moment at hand. By Vinson Cunningham Newsletters Sign Up for The New Yorker’s Books & Fiction Newsletter Book recommendations, fiction, poetry, and dispatches from the world of literature, twice a week. Humor from The New Yorker Shouts & Murmurs We Can Make It Work Got the script. All good. Gotta work out the scheduling, and the money, and the credit, and the notes, and the character arc. But he’s prepared to commit to engaging! By Brian Koppelman Cartoons from the Issue Cartoons from the Issue Drawings and drollery from this week’s magazine. You’re receiving this e-mail because you signed up for This Week's Issue from The New Yorker. Was this e-mail forwarded to you? Sign up. Unsubscribe | Manage your e-mail preferences | Send newsletter feedback | View our Privacy Policy Copyright © Condé Nast 2021. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.