Harper's Magazine

Harper's Magazine The essays, reportage, criticism, and fiction published in Harper’s Magazine transcend the news cycle and upend conventional wisdom.

Harper's Magazine introduces readers to people and places—as near as the next state, continents away, or sprung from an author’s imagination—that are at once foreign, yet surprisingly familiar. Since the magazine’s founding in 1850, we have sought out writers who look for truth with their own eyes and relay it in their own voices. We are unconvinced by rumors about readers’ dwindling attention spans, but we know that pithiness is often passion’s best ally.

“For a book that is, at base, a story of the serpentine ways of the insurance industry, Born in Flames includes arrestin...
08/15/2025

“For a book that is, at base, a story of the serpentine ways of the insurance industry, Born in Flames includes arresting images: children laid out unconscious on the sidewalk from smoke inhalation; a paranoid ‘fire broker’ … conducting a meeting in the men’s room.”

August 2025 Issue [New Books] New Books by Dan Piepenbring, Still with us – Franz Ferdinand, by Claudio Cecchetti © The artist [New Books] New Books by Dan Piepenbring, Adjust Share Techno-thrillers are the rose-colored glasses through which the national-security state sees itself. Ronald Reagan ...

“Beiming felt in a bit of a daze as he thought, The Jade Cloud Temple, where I spent the night, had such beautiful carve...
08/15/2025

“Beiming felt in a bit of a daze as he thought, The Jade Cloud Temple, where I spent the night, had such beautiful carved beams and painted rafters. How is it that after sleeping for just one night I’ve awoken to find that it has changed so drastically?”—Wu Jianren

August 2025 Issue [Readings] Novel Encounter Download PDF Adjust Share by Wu Jianren, From New Story of the Stone, which was published in June by Columbia University Press. The book, published in Chinese beginning in 1905, is considered one of China’s first works of science fiction. It is framed a...

“Things started becoming really sus when a few members could see him texting in Russian.”From an anonymous telegram mess...
08/15/2025

“Things started becoming really sus when a few members could see him texting in Russian.”

From an anonymous telegram message about Rinaldo Nazzaro, the founder of The Base.

August 2025 Issue [Readings] White Russian Download PDF Adjust Share by Harper’s Magazine, From an anonymous message about Rinaldo Nazzaro, the founder of The Base, a white-supremacist group, that circulated on Telegram in April. Unlike what most people and the media think, The Base wasn’t found...

“I am blackI am gayI am an Italian AmericanI am a New YorkerI am a Queens boy”From public statements made by Andrew Cuom...
08/14/2025

“I am black
I am gay
I am an Italian American
I am a New Yorker
I am a Queens boy”

From public statements made by Andrew Cuomo since 2000.

August 2025 Issue [Readings] Ecce Cuomo Download PDF Adjust Share by Harper’s Magazine, From public statements made by Andrew Cuomo since 2000. I am a Muslim I am a Catholic I am sort of the Antichrist I am black I am gay I am an Italian American I am a New Yorker I am a Queens boy I am an undocum...

“I pushed myself to where the ceiling was higher. Even though I was off course, I wanted to breathe for a second. A pebb...
08/14/2025

“I pushed myself to where the ceiling was higher. Even though I was off course, I wanted to breathe for a second. A pebble was wedged under my breastbone, and I reached under myself to move it, and then dragged myself two times quickly.” —Amie Barrodale

August 2025 Issue [Fiction] In the Cave of the Skull by Amie Barrodale, Moss and Branches, by Claire Sherman. Courtesy the artist and DC Moore Gallery, New York City [Fiction] In the Cave of the Skull by Amie Barrodale, Adjust Share I had joined the conference participants on a hike to a local Naga....

“Landlords hired kids—‘torches,’ in industry argot—to see that their properties suffered untimely accidents. With unempl...
08/14/2025

“Landlords hired kids—‘torches,’ in industry argot—to see that their properties suffered untimely accidents. With unemployment high, a torch was easy to find.”

Dan Piepenbring on Born in Flames, by Bench Ansfield.

August 2025 Issue [New Books] New Books by Dan Piepenbring, Still with us – Franz Ferdinand, by Claudio Cecchetti © The artist [New Books] New Books by Dan Piepenbring, Adjust Share Techno-thrillers are the rose-colored glasses through which the national-security state sees itself. Ronald Reagan ...

“Once we step back from the paranoid reaction, the problem presented by AI facial recognition assumes different contours...
08/14/2025

“Once we step back from the paranoid reaction, the problem presented by AI facial recognition assumes different contours.”

Michael W. Clune on AI facial recognition and facial control.

The puzzle of AI facial recognition

“Growing up in a sedate small town, I would look out our windows to see what I knew only too well, to detect little dist...
08/13/2025

“Growing up in a sedate small town, I would look out our windows to see what I knew only too well, to detect little disturbances in the outdoors that might stimulate my imagination and alleviate the inescapable boredom of certain never-ending afternoons.”

August 2025 Issue [Readings] At the Window Download PDF Adjust Share by Christopher Urban, From the Early Spring 2025 special fiction issue of Raritan, a quarterly journal published by Rutgers University that ceased operations this year. Unlike the windows of my childhood that looked out into our ba...

“Loneliness is pitifulFreedom is my dream I always forgetThe pornographic dream of a vista”From The Mirror of Simple...
08/13/2025

“Loneliness is pitiful
Freedom is my dream I always forget

The pornographic dream of a vista”

From The Mirror of Simple Souls by Leah Flax Barber, which was published in May by Winter Editions.

August 2025 Issue [Readings] Dirty Boulevard Download PDF Adjust Share by Leah Flax Barber, From The Mirror of Simple Souls, which was published in May by Winter Editions. The freedom of love it astounds me When we walk by the furniture stores With their waterbeds as big as houses On the dirty boule...

“The central working assumption of PEN America and of the State Department—that the liberal American can teach the serio...
08/13/2025

“The central working assumption of PEN America and of the State Department—that the liberal American can teach the seriously swarming races what is meant by democracy—has been annihilated.”

Pankaj Mishra on the moral failings of America’s intelligentsia.

August 2025 Issue [Easy Chair] Speaking Reassurance to Power Download PDF Adjust Share by Pankaj Mishra, “It may be,” Edmund Wilson wrote in 1929, “that the United States will develop into a great imperialistic power with all its artists, critics, and philosophers as ineffective and as easily ...

“Finally, a chance to witness the Romans slaughter the Gauls from the comfort of your own home.”Dan Piepenbring on Elain...
08/13/2025

“Finally, a chance to witness the Romans slaughter the Gauls from the comfort of your own home.”

Dan Piepenbring on Elaine Castillo’s Moderation.

August 2025 Issue [New Books] New Books by Dan Piepenbring, Still with us – Franz Ferdinand, by Claudio Cecchetti © The artist [New Books] New Books by Dan Piepenbring, Adjust Share Techno-thrillers are the rose-colored glasses through which the national-security state sees itself. Ronald Reagan ...

“… A consensus has emerged that the fault lies entirely with Biden and his clique for having selfishly insisted on runni...
08/12/2025

“… A consensus has emerged that the fault lies entirely with Biden and his clique for having selfishly insisted on running despite his evident senility. That explanation has the merit of letting everyone else off the hook.” —Andrew Cockburn

Do the Democrats really want reform?

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