2015: The Year in High-Stakes Handshakes
Diplomacy: It’s all in the wrist.
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More Top Stories
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The Atlantic More Top StoriesA 2016 TV Preview
A guide to the returning hits and new shows on network, cable, and streaming services
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145 / Tom Grill / Ocean / Corbis More Top StoriesWhy Are Digital-Privacy Apps So Hard to Use?
Protecting your data usually means navigating a miserable user experience.
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More Top Stories2015: A Year of Unlikable Female Characters in Books
Several novels this year starred female protagonists as flawed and interesting as literature’s most memorable male characters.
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Damian Dovarganes / AP More Top StoriesThe War Over the War on Crime
New York’s police commissioner is feuding with his predecessor over whether the city is manipulating statistics.
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Eric Gay / AP More Top StoriesThe Split Between the States Over Guns
Owners of firearms will have more rights in Texas and fewer rights in California in the new year, thanks to the nation’s deepening cultural divide.
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Andrew Harnik / AP More Top StoriesThe Carson Campaign’s Year-End Collapse
Two top aides resigned from the Republican candidate’s team on Thursday, dealing the latest blow to a troubled effort.
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The Atlantic More Top StoriesHow DEA Agents Took Down Mexico’s Most Vicious Drug Cartel
And how this helped give rise to the criminal empire of Chapo Guzmán
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Mary Altaffer / AP / Zak Bickel / The Atlantic More Top StoriesWho Gets Excluded From the Modern Economy?
Experts on banking and labor markets offer their reasons for optimism and pessimism going into 2016.
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Notes
First thoughts, running arguments, stories in progress -
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Global
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Maxim Smeyev / Reuters GlobalThe World According to Russia
A documentary on state television gives a glimpse of Vladimir Putin’s philosophy.
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Cathal McNaughton / Reuters GlobalWhat Makes a Country Legalize Abortion?
The political science of a volatile issue—and why Ireland could be next
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Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters GlobalA Massive Hotel Fire in Dubai
Flames tore through a 63-story skyscraper as revelers gathered for New Year's Eve celebrations.
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Francois Lenoir / Reuters GlobalThe Heightened Security for New Year’s Eve Around the World
Cities across the globe have dispatched thousands of police officers to patrol festivities amid fears of terrorist attacks.
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Dado Ruvic / Reuters GlobalA Foiled New Year’s Eve Terrorist Plot in Turkey
Officials detained two suspected Islamic State militants who had planned attacks on New Year celebrations.
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U.S. Navy / Reuters GlobalISIS, China, and the New Way of War
A new form of conflict emerged in 2015—from the Islamic State to the South China Sea.
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Hernán Piñera / Flickr GlobalA New Year’s Eve Plot and Arrests in Belgium
The federal prosecutor’s office said two people were arrested in connection with a plot to stage attacks around the New Year’s celebration.
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All Stories Are the Same
From Avatar to The Wizard of Oz, Aristotle to Shakespeare, there’s one clear form that dramatic storytelling has followed since its inception.
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Mario Anzuoni / Reuters Remembering Natalie Cole
The American singer died Thursday at the age of 65.
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Brendan McDermid / Reuters New Year, New Wages
On January 1st, laws raising the minimum wage in 12 states go into effect.
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Carlos Barria / Reuters Obama's New Year's Resolution on Gun Violence
The president said Friday he will meet with the U.S. attorney general to consider executive action on firearms.
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Bob Daugherty / AP Ronald Reagan’s Disarmament Dream
How Reagan’s fantasy about—and Mikhail Gorbachev’s fear of—space weapons ruined a plan to eliminate the entire U.S. and Soviet nuclear arsenals.
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Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters Who’s Afraid of Mein Kampf?
As Hitler's infamous book enters the public domain, its history shows that censorship can't stop dangerous ideas.
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Video: A Gym for Mindfulness
Exploring how meditation is done at a new studio in Manhattan.
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Video
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VideoThis Is What It’s Like to Read Lips
On the messy and imprecise process of using one sense to do the work of another
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VideoCapturing Domestic Violence on Film
Donna Ferrato on her ethnographic approach to documenting dangerous relationships
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VideoA Young Moroccan Woman’s Journey to Become a Surfer
How a 17-year-old is pushing boundaries in her community
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VideoOne Young Man’s Failed Journey to America
A story of an unexpected detour and seeking a new path
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Culture
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Lucasfilm CultureThe Force Awakens and a Critical Turnaround
A few final thoughts on J.J. Abrams’s film, nostalgia, and the expectations game
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Paul Spella / Zachary Bickel / The Atlantic CultureThe Best Book I Read This Year
The Atlantic’s editors and writers share their favorite titles—new, classic, or somewhere in between.
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Laszlo Balogh / Reuters CultureRemembered: A Few Notable Deaths of 2015
B.B. King, Grace Lee Boggs, Allen Toussaint, and 9 others who changed the world
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Shutterstock / Kara Gordon / Paul Spella / The Atlantic CultureThe 50 Best Podcast Episodes of 2015
A year’s worth of highlights from an increasingly vibrant genre
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The Atlantic CultureThe Best Movies of 2015
The Atlantic’s film critic picks the top titles—and doles out some less conventional awards.
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Business
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John Shearer / Invision / AP BusinessYear in Review: The Biggest Stories About Gender Inequality at Work
In 2015, companies and individuals made some strides toward tackling the wage gap, the rarity of paid leave, and professional sexism.
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Carlo Allegri / Reuters BusinessDecember’s Best Reads: Money, Business, and Economics
The month’s best stories from around the web
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Michael Buholzer / Reuters BusinessThe U.S.’s ‘Strictest’ Equal-Pay Law Is About to Go Into Effect
Starting in 2016, companies in California will be required to justify any pay disparities between men and women doing "substantially similar" work.
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The Atlantic BusinessHow Will the American Workforce Change?
Experts on race, gender, and labor offer their reasons for optimism and pessimism going into 2016.
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Mario Anzuoni / Reuters BusinessHow Many Poor Elderly Americans Will There Be in 2050?
As the Boomers age, there are going to be a lot more people living in poverty.
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The Atlantic BusinessWhat Would Make the Economy More Fair?
Experts on business, labor, and corporate governance offer their reasons for optimism and pessimism going into 2016.
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Max Whittaker / Reuters BusinessWill Inequality Ever Stop Growing?
Experts on the economy and the labor market offer their reasons for optimism and pessimism going into 2016.
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Daily
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Reuters DailySubscribe to Our Afternoon Newsletter
The Atlantic Daily: our wrap-up of notable news, ideas, and images—by email each weekday
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Health
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Ben Margot / AP HealthThe People Left Behind in the Fight Against HIV
Advances in treatment haven’t made a difference for many of the most vulnerable patients in the U.S.
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Santi Palacios / AP HealthThe Physiological Power of Altruism
People who volunteer lead longer, healthier lives. Some public-health experts believe the time has come for doctors to recommend it alongside diet and exercise.
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Lucas Jackson / Reuters HealthHow Doctors Are Experimenting With Cutting Health-Care Costs
Small innovations are adding up to signal that providers and insurers are interested in saving money for patients.
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Bettmann / CORBIS HealthFresh Starts and Failed New Year’s Resolutions
Resolutions often fail, but that doesn't make the New Year a bad time to say what you want from your life.
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Zoran Milich / Corbis HealthThe Science Behind Vacation Constipation
Why the holidays are a prime time for traveler’s constipation
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Reuters HealthThe Marijuana Breathalyzer’s Uncertain Future
The test could help reduce the number of intoxicated drivers on the road—or it could turn up too many false positives to be useful.
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Toby Talbot / AP HealthThe FDA’s New Policy on Blood Donations From Gay Men
The agency announced on Monday an historic shift in longstanding regulations.
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U.S.
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Brian Snyder / Reuters U.S.A Year of Black Lives Matter
As the protest movement evolves, activists face pushback and growing pains.
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Paul Beaty / AP U.S.The Paranoid Style of American Policing
When officers take the lives of those they are sworn to protect and serve, they undermine their own legitimacy.
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Lucy Nicholson / Reuters U.S.The Sexual-Assault Charge Against Bill Cosby
Pennsylvania prosecutors have charged the comedian with aggravated indecent assault in connection with a 2004 incident.
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Eric Gay / AP U.S.Harris County Jails Prove Impervious to Reform
Years after a federal investigation documented abuses in Houston-area lockups, a newspaper report finds that little has changed.
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Kate Munsch / Reuters U.S.‘Historic’ Floods in Missouri and Illinois
Forecasters said Wednesday that areas along the Mississippi River should expect more rising water.
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Noah Berger / Reuters U.S.San Francisco’s Self-Defeating Housing Activists
Tech companies and workers are vilified while longtime homeowners who fight high-density growth continue to profit from rising rents and property values.
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Eduardo Munoz / Reuters U.S.The Laws and Rules That Protect Police Who Kill
Despite the political pressure to prosecute cops in cases like Tamir Rice’s, the current system grants enormous leeway to officers who employ lethal force.
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Education
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Mike Groll / AP EducationThe Math Class Paradox
Mastering the subject has become less about learning and more about performance.
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The Atlantic EducationCan Schools Be Fixed?
Experts on K-12 education offer their reasons for optimism and pessimism going forward.
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The Atlantic EducationWhat Is the Future of Higher Education?
Experts in the field offer their reasons for optimism and pessimism going forward.
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Jim Vaiknoras / The Hechinger Report EducationWhen Restorative Justice in Schools Works
“People were afraid this was going to be a ‘hippy-dippy-granola, nobody’s-going-to-get-into-trouble’ concept.”
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The Atlantic EducationEducation in 2015, Visualized
Some of the most important issues of the year, from school discipline in elementary schools to students burdened with debt long after graduation.
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Courtesy of Monument Academy EducationThe Rise of Urban Public Boarding Schools
They’re designed to provide extra attention to students who suffer from trauma. But are they worth all the extra taxpayer dollars?
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Elaine Thompson / AP EducationNo Child Left Behind Is Gone, but Will It Be Back?
The new law could mean it will still be business as usual.
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In This Issue
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Justin Renteria -
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Gluekit / AP In This IssueWhy America Is Moving Left
Republicans may have a lock on Congress and the nation’s statehouses—and could well win the presidency—but the liberal era ushered in by Barack Obama is only just beginning.
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Science
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Jason Lee / Reuters ScienceWhat Facial Hair Says About Personality
How beards and mustaches influence the way men are perceived
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Felipe Courzo / Reuters ScienceThe Butterflies’ Great Migration
Each year, a new generation of Monarchs flies south for the winter—but habitat loss is making the journey harder. An Object Lesson.
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Corbis ScienceNature’s Warning Signal
Complex systems like ecological food webs, the brain, and the climate all give off a characteristic signal when disaster is around the corner.
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Larry Downing / Reuters ScienceWhat Chief Justice Roberts Misunderstands About Physics
Science is not a separate realm that sits outside culture.
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Friedrich Georg Weitsch ScienceThe Forgotten Father of Environmentalism
Alexander von Humboldt revolutionized the Western conception of nature by describing it as an interconnected living web—and in doing so, inspired thinkers from Darwin to Thoreau.
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Krishnendu Halder / Reuters ScienceThe Catfish Return
City officials are hoping that a new influx of fish into the Chicago River will help cut down on water pollution.
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Politics
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AP PoliticsDonald Trump and the Return of the 1920s
America is again caught between nationalists longing for the glories of an imagined past, and activists invoking ideals the nation has never yet attained.
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Andrew Harnik / AP Politics2015: The Year in Politics and Policy
A roundup of some of our favorite stories that we published in the past year.
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Steven Senne / AP PoliticsWatching Trump From the Cheap Seats
The overflow room at Trump’s New Hampshire rally was packed to the gills—but low energy at best.
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John Raoux / AP PoliticsThe 2016 U.S. Presidential Race: A Cheat Sheet
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham announced on December 21 that he will drop out of the nomination battle.
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Dave Weaver / AP PoliticsThe Iowa Caucus Gets an Upgrade
Both parties are hoping a new app for tallying votes will smooth an election plagued by errors in 2012.
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Patrick Semansky / AP Politics2015: The Year in Race Relations
From Ferguson to Charleston, longstanding problems erupted back into public view.
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New Hampshire magazine / The Atlantic PoliticsThe Great Republican Revolt
The GOP planned a dynastic restoration in 2016. Instead, it triggered an internal class war. Can the party reconcile the demands of its donors with the interests of its rank and file?
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Culture
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The Atlantic Culture28 Movies to Look Forward to in 2016
Amid the usual franchise fare and long-awaited sequels are a handful of original works to get excited about.
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Bettmann / Corbis CultureWhy Are So Few Film Critics Female?
Fewer than 20 percent of Rotten Tomatoes-excerpted reviews are by women.
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Mario Anzuoni / Reuters CultureThe Case Against Colorblind Casting
Its been praised as a way to make Hollywood more diverse. But when does acceptance become erasure?
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The Weinstein Company CultureThe Hateful Eight Is a Gory Epic in Search of Meaning
Quentin Tarantino’s newest film is a dazzling, excessively vile post-Civil War western.
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USA Today Sports / Reuters CultureLeBron James: Player, Coach, or Both?
The Cavaliers’ star is shattering the ages-old divide between athlete and decision-maker.
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Counterpoint CultureA Sinner Reimagines the Bible
The latest novel from Mary Rakow, This Is Why I Came, could be called the “agnostic Gospels.”
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AMC / ABC / Comedy Central / HBO / USA / IGN / Zak Bickel / Paul Spella / The Atlantic
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Technology
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Utopian Raspberry - Modern Oasis Machine / Facebook TechnologyOn the Question of Dog Pants
An important contribution to one of the great disputes of our time
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Ilya Naymushin / Reuters TechnologyDecember’s Must-Reads: Science, Tech, and Health
Stories not to miss from around the web this month
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Robert Pratta / Reuters TechnologyHow the Internet of Things Limits Consumer Choice
A recent dustup over smart light bulbs illuminates a larger problem.
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Victor Jorgensen / U.S. Navy / Reuters TechnologyWhat Makes Unforgettable Images So Memorable?
A new study finds machines can be trained to predict, with astonishing accuracy, the photos and illustrations people will remember.
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Wikimedia TechnologyThe Logo That Took Down a DARPA Surveillance Project
Some of the military-technology agency’s images are disconcerting. Others are actually kind of cute.
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In This Issue
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Marco Goran In This IssueA Strategic Guide to Swearing
“Swear, and swear often! But not if you want a promotion. Or if you’re prone to injury.”
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Brian Stauffer In This IssueThe Dark Hallways of Horace Mann
What allowed sexual abuse to go unchecked at the prestigious private school in the 1970s?
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Kikim Media In Defense of Food and the Virtues of Eating ‘Healthy-ish’
“Industries upon industries, even entire religions, have been predicated on the premise that eating (certain things) is bad and will kill you.”
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Bassam Khabieh / Reuters A Year of Syria’s War Seen Through the Lens of Bassam Khabieh
Several years ago, Bassam Khabieh was an IT administrator working in Damascus, Syria, near his hometown of Douma. Then, the Syrian war began. Soon, Khabieh picked up a camera and returned to Douma to document the effects of years of shelling and urban warfare.
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