Eight Absorbing Reads for Independence Day Weekend

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Newer, better UV-blocking agents have been in use in other countries for years. Why can’t we have them here?

How a small-town auto mechanic peddling a green-energy breakthrough pulled off a massive scam

In recent years, the idea that educators should be teaching kids qualities like grit and self-control has caught on. Successful strategies, though, are hard to come by.

Donald Cline must have thought no one would ever know. Then DNA testing came along.

Did people first come to this continent by land or by sea?

In 2019, Charles Conwell unintentionally ended Patrick Day’s life with his fists. Now he’s trying to make sense of his life, and boxing itself.

The ubiquitous rise of add-on fees and personalized pricing has turned buying stuff into a game you can’t win.

The Harvard Study of Adult Development has established a strong correlation between deep relationships and well-being. The question is, how does a person nurture those deep relationships?

1. Fly Me to the Moon, a comedy-drama film starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum about a plan to fake the moon landing (in theaters Friday)
2. The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), a new album from Eminem (out Friday)
3. Long Island Compromise, a novel by Taffy Brodesser-Akner about a wealthy family that starts spiraling after the patriarch is kidnapped and held for ransom (out Tuesday)

For more than a decade, in blog posts and scientific papers and public talks, the psychologist Hal Herzog has questioned whether owning pets makes people happier and healthier.

It is a lonely quest, convincing people that puppies and kittens may not actually be terrific for their physical and mental health. “When I talk to people about this,” Herzog told me, “nobody believes me.” A prominent professor at a major public university once described him as “a super curmudgeon” who is, in effect, “trying to prove that apple pie causes cancer.”

• The goal that saved England
• An antidote to the cult of self-discipline
• The awful ferocity of midlife desire
• Don’t give up on tourism. Just do it better.
• Blood and cheap thrills in ’80s Los Angeles
• Eva Longoria’s escapist charms

• Anne Applebaum: How Labour defeated populism
• Mark Leibovich: The lie Democrats are telling themselves
• Something has gone deeply wrong at the Supreme Court.