The Cruel and Unusual Execution of Clayton Lockett
The untold story of Oklahoma's botched lethal injection—and America’s intensifying fight over the death penalty
June 2015
In This Issue
The botching of capital punishment, why it pays to be a jerk, the emotional genius of Pixar, why age may be Hillary’s secret weapon, and more
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Why It Pays to Be a Jerk
New research confirms what they say about nice guys.
The Mysterious Columba Bush
Who is Jeb’s wife, what effect will she have on his campaign—and what effect will his campaign have on their marriage?
How Indie Rock Changed the World
The influence of geeks with guitars on culture, from DIY to social media
Dispatches
Edmon De Haro Playing the Granny Card
Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, Angela Merkel, Christine Lagarde: Is a generation of powerful women turning age into an advantage?
John Cuneo Pixar’s Mood Master
Can Pete Docter’s new movie change the way viewers think about their emotions?
Jean Jullien Why Men Are Retweeted More Than Women
The gender disparity of influence on Twitter
White The Plan to Move an Entire Swedish Town
Can a city pick itself up and head down the road? The people of Kiruna intend to find out.
Matt Chase Why the U.S. Needs to Listen to China
And why China needs to listen to the U.S. The importance of the mutual economic criticisms between two major world powers.
Álvaro Domínguez Hacking the Brain
How we might make ourselves smarter in the future
DeAgostini / Getty The Art of Avoiding War
Why it’s so hard to defeat an enemy that won’t fight you, and what this means for U.S. strategy on everything from the Islamic State to China
Robin Davey The Hypocrisy of Professional Ethicists
Even people who decide what’s right and wrong for a living don’t always behave well.
Najjua Zulkefli / The Malaysian Insider Fatwas Galore
In Malaysia, councils outlaw everything from dog-petting to yoga.
Joe McKendry Vino Veritas
A very short book excerpt
The Culture File
Autumn Whitehurst Making Sense of Björk
What MoMA gets right and wrong in its controversial exhibition on the Icelandic pop icon
Owen Freeman Was Dickens a Thief?
A new novel portrays the young writer of The Pickwick Papers as a conniving founder of modern mass culture.
Cristiana Couceiro The Soviets’ Cold War Choreographer
Unlike the famously expatriated George Balanchine, Leonid Yakobson remained in the U.S.S.R. How his spirit is revitalizing ballet today.
Therese Mitchell / Courtesy of Joseph Mitchell's Estate Joe Mitchell’s Secret
The legendary New Yorker writer freely mixed fact and fiction—much of what he wrote wouldn’t meet today’s fact-checking standards. But maybe literary journalism has lost more than it’s gained.
Departments
The Conversation
Responses and reverberations
Graham Roumieu Which Contemporary Habits Will Be Most Unthinkable 100 Years From Now?
Driving, sadness, and more
