| | | | | In a valedictory speech, the President mapped his legacy and asked to be remembered as a man who pulled the country from the maw of tragedy.  Photograph by Natalie Keyssar for The New Yorker When President Joe Biden walked onstage last night, at the Democratic National Convention, in Chicago, he was already wiping tears from his eyes. He hugged his daughter Ashley, who had introduced him, and then turned to the chanting crowd. “I love you!” he said. Evan Osnos was there to watch Biden pass the nomination to the Vice-President. “As a matter of history,” he notes of Biden’s withdrawal from the race, “it was a scene no living American has ever witnessed.” Biden spoke about his legislative achievements and his successful navigation of threats both material and existential. Not quite a farewell, the speech was a way for Biden to revise the impression left by his disastrous debate against Donald Trump, and to regain dignity. “Now that he’d been removed from the perilous context of the Presidential race, it was possible to see him differently for the first time in years,” Osnos writes, “not as a man struggling to stay at the top but as a man whose career describes a half century of American history.” Support The New Yorker’s award-winning journalism. Subscribe today » | | | | Joshua Rothman | |  Illustration by Josie Norton With all the feeding, ferrying, and sunscreening involved, there can be a certain cognitive dissonance between raising a child and seeing that child as an individual. “The fact that children are their own people can come as a surprise to parents,” Joshua Rothman writes, in his exploration of why and how people choose to parent. Read more » Open Questions publishes every Tuesday. | | | |  | If you know someone who would enjoy this newsletter, please share it. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up. | | | | Editor’s Pick | |  Illustration by Pierre Buttin There have never been enough bookstores in America, dating back to the nation’s founding. More recently, between 1998 and 2020, at least half of the independent bookstores in the country went under. Yet the pandemic, of all things, offered a bit of hope, with the best-selling writer James Patterson’s well-funded #SaveIndieBookstores movement catching on, and a slight uptick of new shops opening in the years since. Louis Menand tracks the shifting ethos of bookselling, and offers some advice to retailers and readers alike: “Go boutique.” Read more » Further reading: The bookshop is not yet obsolete. Earlier this year, New Yorker writers and editors shared some of their favorites from around the city, including one that is open “by chance,” one that’s described as “thrilling, overwhelming, chaotic,” and one that might be more vibe than store. | | | |  | In the Dark: In the fifth episode of Season 3 of the podcast, examining the killings of twenty-four civilians in Iraq, Madeleine Baran explores whether the incident was a face-off with insurgents or the murder of four innocent brothers. Listen and follow » | | | | | | Culture Dept. |  The Front Row How Gena Rowlands Redefined the Art of Movie ActingThe actress, who died last week, at the age of ninety-four, changed the history of cinema in her collaborations with the actor and director John Cassavetes. By Richard Brody | | | | | Dept. of Diversions | Sketchpad Did R.F.K., Jr., Squander a Golden Opportunity with the Dead Bear Cub?Sure, dumping it in Central Park was interesting. But had he even considered using it as a delicious gift for Putin, or as a pickup line with the ladies? By Steve Martin | | | | | Fifty Days of Flash Fiction | Flash Fiction An Evening with Joseph Conrad“How they got to talking about white bread he could not remember afterward, but it shone in his mind, this conversation, as the bread had shone.” By Anne Carson | | | | | Fun & Games Dept. | Crossword A Moderately Challenging PuzzleDevices for rocking the baby or walking the dog: five letters. By Aimee Lucido | | Shouts & Murmurs Historic Reasons Behind Banned Pets in N.Y.C.Criminal tendencies, litigious proclivities, socialist leanings, and more. By Sarah Solomon | | Daily Cartoon Tuesday, August 20th By Emily Flake | | | | | | P.S. It was a local paper on Long Island that first followed the odd trail of lies being left by George Santos, who this week pleaded guilty to counts of wire fraud and identity theft. On the Political Scene podcast last year, the New Yorker staff writer Clare Malone spoke with the paper’s publisher and its managing editor about the redistricting drama that allowed for Santos’s rise, and the scams they discovered that would contribute to the former congressman’s downfall. | | | | Today’s newsletter was written by Hannah Jocelyn. | | | | | | | |
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