Until today, nearly every Vatican insider agreed on one thing: The United States would never produce a pope, at least not while the country remained a superpower. A citizen of...

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in...

The surgeon general, America’s doctor, is the public face of medicine in the United States. The job is more educational than it is technical. Vivek Murthy, who was appointed as...

The conflict between India and Pakistan has just escalated faster than at any previous point since they both acquired nuclear weapons at the end of the 20th century. That may...

This is an edition of Time-Travel Thursdays, a journey through The Atlantic’s archives to contextualize the present. Sign up here. During the 1963 papal conclave, amid expectant crowds at St....

Want to stay current with Arthur’s writing? Sign up to get an email every time a new column comes out. We live in an age of loud egos. Scholars have...

The United States and China are finally going to talk. This weekend, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will meet Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Switzerland to begin negotiations over...

In 1973, William Colby, then the director of central intelligence, had a statue of the Revolutionary War spy Nathan Hale placed on the grounds of the CIA’s headquarters in Virginia....

Last Halloween, not long after the kids finished trick-or-treating and got in bed, I settled on my couch to watch the San Antonio Spurs, my favorite basketball team. Five games...

Nothing about Carl Hiaasen’s outward appearance suggests eccentricity. I’ve seen him described as having the air of “an amiable dentist” or “a pleasant jeweler” or “a patrician country lawyer.” He...