May 2012

How Facebook may be making us lonely, the genius of Kanye West, Muammar Qaddafi's grieving son, a profile of an iconoclastic video game inventor, and more

The Atlantic - May 2012

Editor's Note

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Brand

Social media is turning self-promotion into a full-time, alienating preoccupation.

Letters

Letters to the editor

Responses and reverberations

Advice

What’s Your Problem?

How to get a beard like Ben Bernanke’s, and other advice

Features

Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?

For all the connectivity of the social- media age, research suggests that we have never been lonelier. A report on what this epidemic is doing to our bodies, our souls, and our society.

The Most Dangerous Gamer

The video-game developer Jonathan Blow is his industry’s harshest critic. In trying to prove the artistic capacity of his medium, Blow may cement his legacy—or end his career.
Video: Taylor Clark shows what makes Jonathan Blow's video games so subversive and extraordinary.

Six Rules for Dining Out

How a frugal economist finds the perfect lunch
Video: Tyler Cowen discovers an exceptional Vietnamese bistro in a suburban strip mall near Washington, D.C.

How to Make a Hollywood Hit

Charting the new globe-trotting science of moviemaking

Kanye West, American Mozart

Intense and emotional, the hip-hop superstar has become a national joke. Could a concert tour with Jay-Z, his preternaturally controlled friend and rival, offer redemption—or disaster?
Interview:: Rap legend Rakim talks to David Samuels about the state of hip-hop today, the state of hip-hop when he started—and how he ended up living in suburban Connecticut.

Dispatches

Can the Tea Party Take Japan?

Tokyo conservatives look westward for inspiration.

Alaska by Dogsled

A journey through the wilderness renews friendship and invites solitude.

The Army Bands of Afghanistan

The United States is hoping to leave the country with a fully functioning military. That includes training musicians who can sound "like sixth-grade band class."

Qaddafi’s Child

Bad tidings reach the despot's son Saadi.

Iron Lungs and Steely Nerves

Off the Kona Coast of Hawaii, a diving enthusiast learns to plunge 100 feet on a single gulp of air.

The Data-Driven Parent

Will statistical analytics make for healthier, happier babies—or more-anxious adults?

Columns

Why You Can’t Get a Taxi

And how an upstart company may change that

The Filthy Morality of Louis C.K.

How the comedian became America’s unlikely conscience

Books

The Art of Fielding: A Swing and a Miss

Why the latest hyped-up work of staggering genius strikes out

Critiquing the Critic

Essayist Dwight Macdonald had a rhythmic voice and "a poet's eye for detail."

Cover to Cover

Richard Diebenkorn’s vision of California; Sir Walter Raleigh gets his due; stylish ghost stories; and more


Video

Miami: The Next Big Start-Up City?

How the city became a center for innovation

Video

Video

A Brief History of Romantic Comedies

From The Atlantic's Chris Orr

Video

Video

Life in 'the New Arctic'

A moving portrait of a fading landscape

Video

Video

The Rise of New York City

A fascinating look at Manhattan in the 1940s

Video

'I Thought It Was Really Funny, but No One Else Did'

A day with New Yorker cartoonist Joe Dator

Video

New Yorkers: The Winemaker

Make your own wine ... in New York City

Video

What Is Methane Hydrate?

"Flaming ice" is a vast natural energy source

Video

NASA's Time-Lapse of the Sun

Now with epic dubstep music

Video

A Video Letter From the Editor

Highlights from the May 2013 issue

Video

Shaken Not Tuned: Cocktail Experiments

Can a tuning fork improve a cocktail?

Video

Video

The Rise of Environmentalism

Tracking 50 years, from the Love Canal disaster to Greenpeace

Video

Is He Cheating? A 1950s Guide

'That little blonde secretary from the office?’

Video

New Yorkers: Vintage Vacuum-Tube Amps

Risking electric shock to restore old amplifiers

Video

The DIY Piano-Bicycle

Everybody needs a hobby

Writers

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