Two women wearing puffy coats walk across a rocky landscape toward a mountain draped with a low cloud.
Two women wearing puffy coats walk across a rocky landscape toward a mountain draped with a low cloud.

Greenland’s Filmmakers Are Ready to Tell Their Own Stories

A burgeoning movie industry seeks to give the island an international voice.

Essay
Pau Torres Pagès
A grid of multiple book covers part of new fiction releases out in January.
A grid of multiple book covers part of new fiction releases out in January.

World-Historical Murder Mysteries

Plus, more international fiction releases in January.

Books
Chloe Hadavas, Allison Meakem
Charli XCX performs onstage with social media influencers during the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 2, 2025.
Charli XCX performs onstage with social media influencers during the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 2, 2025.

Are We Really Living in a Global Monoculture?

A new book argues—unconvincingly—that there is a “blank space” where culture used to be.

Review
Martin Gelin
An illustration shows one empty flagpole alongside the flags of multiple countries. The U.S. flag is seen at far right, untethered, flying out of frame.
An illustration shows one empty flagpole alongside the flags of multiple countries. The U.S. flag is seen at far right, untethered, flying out of frame.

The World-Minus-One Moment

Managing the global order with an antagonistic Washington. This article has an audio recording

Essay
Amitav Acharya
In this black-and-white photo, a group of men lean over a twisted metal object protruding from the ground in a desert landscape. Most of the men wear military uniforms or suits and ties.
In this black-and-white photo, a group of men lean over a twisted metal object protruding from the ground in a desert landscape. Most of the men wear military uniforms or suits and ties.

How the Bombing of Hiroshima Was Covered Up

A new documentary details the complicity of the fourth estate with the U.S. government.

Review
Julian E. Zelizer
A lone soldier in combat fatigues is seen from behind as he walks through a barren forest at dusk, surrounded by splintered, leafless tree trunks, with most of their branches blown off.
A lone soldier in combat fatigues is seen from behind as he walks through a barren forest at dusk, surrounded by splintered, leafless tree trunks, with most of their branches blown off.

A War Film to Change All War Films

An Oscar-shortlisted documentary shows actual battle in startling clarity.

Review
Christian Caryl
A woman looks at art works showing the late Shah of Iran Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and his wife Farah Dibah Pahlavi exhibited in Dubai, April 27 2008.
A woman looks at art works showing the late Shah of Iran Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and his wife Farah Dibah Pahlavi exhibited in Dubai, April 27 2008.

Misreading Iran

Scott Anderson’s “King of Kings” offers a timely picture of U.S. myopia and miscalculation in Tehran.

Review
Gregory Brew
A man with a beard talks on a red phone in a futuristic phone booth.
A man with a beard talks on a red phone in a futuristic phone booth.

A Raucous Reckoning With Brazil’s Dictatorship

“The Secret Agent,” Brazil’s Oscars hopeful, probes an undigested history.

Review
Lucas Iberico Lozada
A man poses in front of a wooden bookcase with glass shelving filled with different types of film cameras.
A man poses in front of a wooden bookcase with glass shelving filled with different types of film cameras.

Jafar Panahi Has His Eyes on the Future

Iran’s most celebrated director asks what a world after the Islamic Republic might look like.

Profile
Amir Ahmadi Arian
A dramatic fantasy scene showing dozens of winged, dragon-like creatures flying through a mountainous sky. Several humanoid riders sit astride the creatures, with one central rider in focus.
A dramatic fantasy scene showing dozens of winged, dragon-like creatures flying through a mountainous sky. Several humanoid riders sit astride the creatures, with one central rider in focus.

Why Is the New ‘Avatar’ Film So Bloodthirsty?

The latest installment in James Cameron’s cultural juggernaut reflects a sad realism about current affairs.

Review
Jordan Hoffman
Two women wearing 1940s-style dresses and hair and makeup perch in the back of a military truck, waving toward the camera. Other people are dressed in berets and military uniforms or khaki outfits to reprsent the French resistance. The truck drives down the middle of a road away from the camera between spectators on either side, a cloudy sky looming overhead.
Two women wearing 1940s-style dresses and hair and makeup perch in the back of a military truck, waving toward the camera. Other people are dressed in berets and military uniforms or khaki outfits to reprsent the French resistance. The truck drives down the middle of a road away from the camera between spectators on either side, a cloudy sky looming overhead.

U.S. Strategists Keep Getting France’s Defeat Wrong

Myths about the Maginot Line are strangely persistent.

Analysis
Alan Allport
Chinese bachelor Zhou poses with Huskies.
Chinese bachelor Zhou poses with Huskies.

What Happens to China’s Surplus Men?

The one-child policy’s gender imbalance has spawned desperate bachelors, dubious gurus, and a rising manosphere.

Review
Drew Gorman
A drawn illustration of a soccer player with a US dollar sign on the bottom of their show about to kick a globe like a soccer ball.
A drawn illustration of a soccer player with a US dollar sign on the bottom of their show about to kick a globe like a soccer ball.

Soccer Still Has Some Explaining to Do

Re-read today, Franklin Foer’s 2004 classic inadvertently suggests where globalization went wrong.

Essay
Graham H. Cornwell
A man wearing a raincoat, knit cap, and a backpack holds a bicycle and smartphone. He stands on a city sidewalk at dusk and looks up at the sky as rain pours.
A man wearing a raincoat, knit cap, and a backpack holds a bicycle and smartphone. He stands on a city sidewalk at dusk and looks up at the sky as rain pours.

A Tale of Two Asylum-Seekers

“Souleymane’s Story” interrogates the fictions we tell ourselves about what makes an acceptable migrant.

Review
Susanna Maize
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives to speak at the Kremlin in Moscow in this photo supplied by Sputnik.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives to speak at the Kremlin in Moscow in this photo supplied by Sputnik.

Putin Has Already Won

He’s exposed fatal divisions in the “West” even as Russians still back his Ukraine invasion.

Essay
Michael Hirsh
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