This Week’s Issue: Is It Time to Break Up Big Tech?

Plus: the women behind “PEN15”; the science of mind reading; and Adele’s diaristic divorce album. View in browser | Update your preferences A Reporter at Large The Secretive Prisons That Keep Migrants Out of Europe Tired of migrants arriving from Africa, the E.U. has created a shadow immigration system that captures them before they reach its shores, and sends them to brutal Libyan detention centers run by militias. By Ian Urbina Profiles Lina Khan’s Battle to Rein in Big Tech As monopolies and other large companies gain increasing control of our daily lives, Khan is Joe Biden’s pick to do something about it. By Sheelah Kolhatkar Onward and Upward with the Arts The Women Behind the Thirteen-Year-Olds of “PEN15” How the show’s co-creators found comedy in the pain of revisiting adolescence. By Rachel Syme Annals of Technology The Science of Mind Reading Researchers are pursuing age-old questions about the nature of thoughts—and learning how to read them. By James Somers Comment The Lessons of “The Lorax” The battle over what we read isn’t about to end anytime soon. By Jill Lepore Pop Music Adele’s Diaristic Divorce Album The artist is known for her intensely personal songs, but “30” is so intimate that it makes even her previous records feel a bit clinical. By Carrie Battan The Theatre The Search for Justification in “Clyde’s” and “Trouble in Mind” In Lynn Nottage’s new play, characters’ life stories come between slapstick riffs on sandwich-making; Alice Childress’s 1955 play makes its much belated Broadway début. By Vinson Cunningham Books Understanding the Body Electric Strong current can kill us, but electrical impulses let us live—a power even the ancients may have attempted to exploit. By Jerome Groopman Books Frantz Fanon’s Enduring Legacy The post-colonial thinker’s seminal book, “The Wretched of the Earth,” described political oppression in psychological terms. What are its lessons for our current moment? By Pankaj Mishra Humor from The New Yorker Shouts & Murmurs Larry David’s Notes for His Biographer To “comedian,” you might want to add: speed reader, zoo guide, marathon runner, bowler, piano prodigy, adoptive dad, and linguist. It’s your call. By Larry David 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.