Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, edited by Trudi Tate. Oxford, 224 pp., £7.99, May, 978 0 19 285985 3
Ouvriers de luxe
Gustave Flaubert et Michel Lévy: Un couple explosif by Yvan Leclerc and Jean-Yves Mollier. Le Livre de Poche, 224 pp., €8.40, November 2024, 978 2 253 94112 5
Fish in the Wrong Place
Liquid Empire: Water and Power in the Colonial World by Corey Ross. Princeton, 447 pp., £35, September 2024, 978 0 691 21144 2
In Praise of Floods: The Untamed River and the Life It Brings by James C. Scott. Yale, 220 pp., £20, February, 978 0 300 27849 1
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest cover features Harry Bliss’s “Cannonball” – The delights of fall.
The Real Problem Is How Trump Can Legally Use the Military
Congress wrote statutes with the apparent assumption that whoever held the office of the Presidency would use the powers they granted in good faith. By Jeannie Suk Gersen
How Long Will You Live?
Smoking a cig takes twenty minutes off your life. But thinking about Rudy Giuliani’s downfall might add some time back. By Greg Clarke
Inside the Trump Administration’s Assault on Higher Education
How conservatives learned to stop worrying and love federal power. By Emma Green
What Zohran Mamdani Knows About Power
The thirty-three-year-old socialist is rewriting the rules of New York politics. Can he transform the city as mayor? By Eric Lach
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE: The 10.12.25 Issue features Amy X. Wang on “buy now, pay later”; Giles Harvey on the filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer; Bruce Schoenfeld on the L.A. Dodgers and its Latino fan base; and more.
Breakthrough paved the way to many of today’s budding quantum computers
Steadying the output of fiber lasers
High-power fiber lasers are used in a range of scientific fields in addition to their standard use for technology. However, increases in laser output power are limited by nonlinear effects that can damage the optical components and reduce the beam quality. Rothe et al. used a spatial wavefront-shaping technique for multimode fiber lasers that mitigates their detrimental processes, thus enabling output power to be increased appreciably while maintaining beam quality.
Last week was Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. A day of prayer and staying away from news. As people made their way to Heaton Park synagogue in north Manchester, they saw a small car being driven erratically before it crashed into the gates. In seconds, Jihad al-Shamie had jumped from the vehicle and started stabbing those nearby. Within six minutes three people had been killed, including the attacker, who was shot by armed police.
For our cover story, Chris Osuh and Geneva Abdul speak to members of the Jewish community about how they feared such an assault was likely, as well as their hopes for unity in the face of hatred. Our reporting team pieces together what is known about Shamie, and Jonathan Freedland says the terror attack was no surprise amid rising antisemitism, but must be a turning point.
Five essential reads in this week’s edition
Spotlight | A chilling message David Smith reports on how Donald Trump is stepping up attacks on Democratic donors little more than a year before the midterm elections for Congress
Science | Catching Zs If you’ve ever found yourself awake in the small hours, mind whirring, you’re not alone. Jillian Pretzel asks experts about what causes maintenance insomnia – inability to stay asleep – and which treatments can help to tackle it
Feature | Broken connection A volcanic eruption in the South Pacific in 2022 ripped apart the underwater cables that connect Tonga to the world.Samanth Subramanian examines how losing the internet catapulted the archipelago back in time
Opinion | Man without a plan? Latin American governments are fretfully watching a big US military buildup around Venezuela as Donald Trump steps up action against drug cartels. The president’s efforts to act as a neighbourhood policeman, writes Simon Tisdall, are regressive, dangerous and almost certain to backfire
Culture | Boss mode New biopic Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere captures the musician at a pivotal point in his career. Alexis Petridis speaks to the film’s cast and crew about bringing the musical icon to life
Yasmina Snyder spoke to writers, poets, musicians and event organisers based in London about the connections between live music and poetry, and the spaces that host them.
‘There’s big trouble in the world of little magazines. In the last two years, an alarming number have vanished into that second-hand bookshop in the sky. Each leaves the world a little quieter, a little poorer.’
Peace abroad and war at home? It’s an unusual note to strike in an electoral democracy. By Benjamin Wallace-Wells
Before Kimmel, the Smothers Brothers Ate It
President Nixon got the brothers’ variety show cancelled after they wouldn’t let up on Vietnam. In the wake of the new late-night wars, Dick Smothers is having flashbacks. By Bruce Handy
The Prime Minister Who Tried to Have a Life Outside the Office
As the thirtysomething leader of Finland, Sanna Marin pursued an ambitious policy agenda. The press focussed on her nights out and how she paid for breakfast. By Jennifer Wilson
The Hague on Trial
The chief prosecutor has obtained warrants against Israeli leaders for war crimes—but faces allegations of sexual misconduct. By David D. Kirkpatrick
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious
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