The View from Inside Beatlemania

Plus: A. G. Sulzberger on the battles at the New York Times; unpacking the Trump indictment; and new fiction by George Saunders. View in browser | Update your preferences Saturday, June 10, 2023 In today’s newsletter, The Weekend Essay, and then: • A. G. Sulzberger on the battles at the New York Times • Unpacking the Trump indictment • New fiction by George Saunders The View from Inside Beatlemania In 1964, on their first world tour, the Beatles took pictures that have only recently been discovered. What do they show us? By Jill Lepore Photograph by Paul McCartney / Courtesy Liveright Publishing On November 4, 1963, the Beatles played at the Prince of Wales Theatre, in London, exuberant, exhausted, and defiant. “For our last number, I’d like to ask your help,” John Lennon cried out to the crowd. “Would the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you’d just rattle your jewelry.” Two weeks later, the band made their first appearance on American television, on NBC’s “Huntley-Brinkley Report.” “The hottest musical group in Great Britain today is the Beatles,” the reporter Edwin Newman said. “That’s not a collection of insects but a quartet of young men with pudding-bowl haircuts.” And, four days after that, “CBS Morning News with Mike Wallace” broadcast a four-minute report from “Beatleland,” by the London correspondent Alexander Kendrick. “The Beatles are said by sociologists to have a deeper meaning,” Kendrick reported. “Some say they are the authentic voice of the proletariat.” Everyone searched for that deeper meaning. The Beatles found it hard to take the search seriously. “What has occurred to you as to why you’ve succeeded?” Kendrick asked Paul McCartney. “Oh, I dunno,” he answered. “The haircuts?” Keep reading Editor’s Pick The New Yorker Interview A. G. Sulzberger on the Battles Within and Against the New York Times The paper’s publisher discusses bias in reporting, the Times’ financial comeback, and criticisms of its coverage of Trump, trans issues, and the war in Ukraine. By David Remnick From the News Desk Letter from Biden’s Washington The Trump Indictment Speaks for Itself Against the former President’s miasma of lies and disinformation, finally, a damning set of facts. By Susan B. Glasser Daily Comment The Supreme Court’s Surprise Defense of the Voting Rights Act The Chief Justice appeared impatient with the maximalist demands that partisans on the right are placing on a Court they seem to feel they own. By Amy Davidson Sorkin Q. & A. Why the Supreme Court Declined an Opportunity to Diminish the Voting Rights Act The decision regarding Alabama’s redistricting process may well result in greater representation for Black voters in other states. By Isaac Chotiner Books We Recommend This Week Reviews of notable new fiction and nonfiction. The Wounded World, by Chad L. Williams (Farrar, Straus & Giroux). This literary history traces the genesis of W. E. B. Du Bois’s ambitious, unfinished study of the role of Black soldiers in the First World War. Du Bois had called on African Americans to “close ranks,” but his postwar research revealed to him the conflict’s horrors, leading him to question the merits of the war and the point of Black soldiers’ sacrifice. Buy now on Amazon or Bookshop. Samuel Barber, by Howard Pollack (Illinois). Barber’s music continues to be treasured for its melding of flawless craftsmanship and deep feeling. Barber himself was more complicated, as this fine biography reveals. Buy now on Amazon or Bookshop. Commitment, by Mona Simpson (Knopf). Set in the nineteen-seventies and eighties, this novel follows the Aziz siblings after their mother’s commitment to a mental-health institution. Simpson darts between their points of view, detailing the vicissitudes of their lives. Buy now on Amazon or Bookshop. An Honorable Exit, by Éric Vuillard, translated from the French by Mark Polizzotti (Other Press). Vuillard, who specializes in novels tracking historical events, turns his eye to France’s attempts to extricate itself from the First Indochina War, culminating in the disastrous defeat at Dien Bien Phu, in 1954. Vuillard examines not only the battlefield but also company boardrooms and National Assembly watering holes. Buy now on Amazon or Bookshop. The best books of 2023 so far What are you reading this week? Reply to let us know. Culture Dept. Fiction “Thursday” “What a strange, uncomfortable thrill it was, being judged from within by someone not oneself.” By George Saunders This Week in Fiction George Saunders on the Nature of Mind The author discusses his story from the latest issue of the magazine. By Deborah Treisman Fun & Games Dept. Name Drop Play the Quiz Can you guess the notable person in six clues or fewer? By Andy Kravis Shouts & Murmurs A Network Executive Writes a Sitcom FRANKLIN (portly, non-SAG) is foiled by his battle-axe mother-in-law. By Teddy Wayne Daily Shouts Useful Alternatives to Catcalling It’s time to broaden the scope of your unsolicited, yelled advice and maybe even open up a little. By Stephanie Redmond Thanks for reading. Let us know your thoughts about today’s edition. Plus, browse more newsletters and invite a friend to sign up for The Daily. You’re receiving this e-mail because you signed up for The Daily from The New Yorker. Manage your preferences | View our Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2023. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.