Rachel Donadio

France Is Officially Color-Blind. Reality Isn’t.

The country’s prestigious grandes écoles illustrate the gulf between its universal ideals and its day-to-day life.

• Rachel Donadio
• July 9, 2020

The Death of Cosmopolitanism

The coronavirus outbreak has emboldened defenders of the nation-state, in Europe and beyond.

• Rachel Donadio
• June 23, 2020

The Coming Setback for Women in the Workplace

Countries across Europe are setting out schedules for reopening businesses, yet schools remain closed. How will that work?

• Rachel Donadio
• May 28, 2020

The ‘Terrible Moral Choice’ of Reopening

European leaders have set out plans for restarting their societies. But the choice isn’t theirs; it belongs to individual citizens.

• Rachel Donadio
• April 29, 2020

I Can’t Stop Thinking About Patient One

Italy shows us that controlling the pandemic will require reshaping family life in much of the world.

• Rachel Donadio
• April 16, 2020

A Letter From Wartime France

Streets that are normally busy, all of a sudden aren’t.

• Rachel Donadio
• March 17, 2020

Italy Shut Down. Which Country Will Be Next?

Europe and the West are in denial about the compromises that will need to be made.

• Rachel Donadio
• March 10, 2020

Italy’s Coronavirus Response Is a Warning From the Future

The country placed severe travel restrictions on a swath of its north. Other democracies are watching closely.

• Rachel Donadio
• March 8, 2020

Sexts, Lies, and Kompromat?

The era in which French public figures were able to keep their private life private is quite possibly over.

• Rachel Donadio
• February 23, 2020

An Italian Flash Mob Just Pushed Back Europe’s Populist Tide

A regional election offers lessons on combatting the rise of the far right, both across the Continent and in the United States.

• Rachel Donadio
• January 27, 2020

A Tiny Island Exposes Europe’s Failures

The investigation into the murder of Malta’s most famous journalist has done more than plunge the country into crisis.

• Rachel Donadio
• December 5, 2019

Leonardo da Vinci’s Unexamined Life as a Painter

A new show marks the 500th anniversary of the artist’s death, and reveals some of his innermost thoughts.

• Rachel Donadio
• December 1, 2019

France’s Growing Pushback Against Roman Polanski

Despite the director’s history of sexual assault, the country has long supported his artistic freedom. But with the debut of his latest film, the tide may be changing.

• Rachel Donadio
• November 23, 2019

‘Welcome to Europe. Now Go Home.’

The overcrowded Moria refugee camp in Greece is where Europe’s ideals—solidarity, human rights, a haven for victims of war and violence—dissolve in a tangle of bureaucracy, indifference, and lack of political will.

• Rachel Donadio
• November 15, 2019

Italy Has an Intolerance Problem. Does It Still Have a Moderate Right?

The anti-Semitic attacks on the Holocaust survivor Liliana Segre have spurred a national debate about intolerance.

• Rachel Donadio
• November 10, 2019

Pope Francis, the Revolutionary, Takes On the Traditionalists

A three-week conference that prioritized the environment highlights a culture war in the Catholic Church.

• Rachel Donadio
• October 27, 2019

Deborah Levy’s Disorienting, Captivating Fiction

The British novelist’s wry books veer from concrete realism to fractured blends of dream and memory.

• Rachel Donadio
• October 11, 2019

The Unending Disquiet After Attacks in Paris

The French capital suffered a wave of violence in 2015 and 2016, and while the years since have been more peaceful, a recent attack resurfaced unease.

• Rachel Donadio
• October 9, 2019

Why IVF Has Divided France

The country is forever caught between tradition and innovation, universalism and individual rights.

• Rachel Donadio
• October 6, 2019

The Disparate Reactions to a New Woody Allen Film

The Paris premiere of A Rainy Day in New York highlighted the tension between American morality and France’s high-minded belief that the art transcends the artist.

• Rachel Donadio
• September 24, 2019