A Novel About a Father's Choice
Welcome back to The Daily's Sunday culture edition, in which one Atlantic writer or editor reveals what's keeping them entertained. Today's special guest is Shane Harris, a staff writer who covers intelligence and national-security issues. He has written about the Trump administration's military purge, what happens to federal agencies when DOGE takes over, and how Elon Musk is breaking the national-security system.
Shane recommends reading Bewilderment, by Richard Powers, a novel that is 'freighted with insight, dread, hope, and often a mixture of the three.' He also enjoys daily online etymology lessons, studying Old Masters paintings, and listening to the film scores of the late composer Jóhann Jóhannsson.
First, here are three Sunday reads from The Atlantic:
The telepathy trap
America's cultural revolution
Trump is breaking the fourth wall.
The Culture Survey: Shane Harris
The best novel I've recently read: Bewilderment, by Richard Powers. Like its predecessor—the towering, sylvan epic The Overstory—this novel worries about the possibly untenable relationship between humanity and the natural world. The books are thematically and stylistically similar; nearly every paragraph is freighted with insight, dread, hope, and often a mixture of the three. But Bewilderment is a quieter and more tangible story that sometimes felt like it could be The Overstory's prequel. They are perfect companions, so if you've read one, read the other. [Related: The novel that asks, 'What went wrong with mankind?']
If you've read neither, give yourself the gift! Bewilderment follows a widowed astrobiologist named Theo Byrne, who is desperate to contain the volatile, emotional outbursts of his 9-year-old son. Robin is a prime target for bullies at school because of his affliction, which presents as a neurodivergent constellation and makes him acutely, sometimes painfully, aware of the physical degradation of the Earth and all the nonhumans that inhabit it.
Desperate for some treatment that doesn't use medication, Theo has Robin try an experimental neurofeedback therapy that allows him to spend time with a version of his dead mother's consciousness. The ramifications are … not 'bewildering,' per se, but profoundly altering. When you finish the book, ask yourself, as I did, whether you would have made the same choice to bring even a modicum of relief for your child.
The best work of nonfiction I've recently read: I don't love the term revisionist history, but Heretic: Jesus Christ and the Other Sons of God, by Catherine Nixey, is a highly readable book that revised my understanding of early Christianity and my thoughts about the Catholic Church. I'll leave it to historians to debate the quality of Nixey's scholarship—I'm way out of my depth there, but the book seems impeccably sourced and added to my evolving view on the nature of religion.
Nixey proposes that, contrary to the Catholic Church's teachings, there was no clear agreement in Christianity's early centuries about who Jesus was and why he mattered. Her argument is persuasive, and it excites me the way great investigative journalism does. Her book is as much a hunt to unearth old stories as it is an indictment of the Church fathers who buried them.
The last museum show that I loved: I had only a few free hours when I was in Munich last month for the annual Security Conference, so I went to the Alte Pinakothek, which houses one of the world's most significant collections of Old Masters paintings. I wasn't prepared for the physical scale and the beauty of this collection—and I saw only a fraction of it. I have never spent much time on this period of art because I've never been a huge fan of Christian imagery, which always struck me as redundant. The Alte Pinakothek converted me. There is just so much more to know about that epoch than I understood, and much of the knowledge is in that museum. I could have spent days there.
A quiet song that I love, and a loud song that I love: 'If Christopher Calls,' by Foy Vance, and 'What's the Frequency, Kenneth?,' by R.E.M.
An online creator that I'm a fan of: Tom Read Wilson. I start most mornings with his word or phrase of the day on Instagram. Tom is a devoted lover of spoken language and a keen etymologist. He recently explained the Latin origins of the word risible, and demonstrated how it could be used positively and negatively. He shares colorful figures of speech from Australia, South Africa, and the American South, always in a regionally appropriate accent. (His Texas twang is really good.) On weekends, he will recite a Shakespearean sonnet—he is learning and performing all of them in order.
That's all great. But I think Tom is at his best when he eschews the high-minded stuff. I first encountered him when the Instagram algorithm served up his straight-faced explanation of a 'shit sandwich.' 'Now, I don't mean a sandwich containing fecal matter, nor do I mean a really rubbish panini,' Tom explained. He asked us to imagine a three-paragraph email in which bad news or criticism is sandwiched between more pleasant and easier-to-swallow sentences. Well, we've all received one of those! [Related: The two most dismissive words on the internet]
A musical artist who means a lot to me: Jóhann Jóhannsson, the Icelandic composer who is probably best known for his collaboration with the filmmaker Denis Villeneuve. Jóhannsson scored Prisoners, Sicario, and Arrival, which is one of my 10 favorite films of all time. (Sicario, by the way, is a movie that bears rewatching in light of the actions that the U.S. government is poised to take against Mexican drug cartels.) I am also captivated by Jóhannsson's score for his own film, Last and First Men. He died from a drug overdose two years before the release; the composer Yair Elazar Glotman finished the music and collaborated with other superb musicians, including Hildur Guðnadóttir, who won an Oscar in 2020 for scoring Joker. [Related: The blockbuster that Hollywood was afraid to make]
I love Jóhannsson's film scores and often listen to them while I write. But don't overlook his studio albums. Fordlandia, inspired by a failed utopia that Henry Ford wanted to build in the jungles of Brazil, is so thematically coherent that you could imagine it was written for a movie. Jóhannsson's work is often dark, brooding, and eerie, but it can be surprisingly melodic, and I love that he treats any object that can make a sound as a musical instrument. He occupies the same place in my imagination as Philip Seymour Hoffman, the actor who also died far too young from an overdose. They would surely have given us more masterpieces, but any artist would envy the body of work they left behind.
The Week Ahead
Black Bag, Steven Soderbergh's new spy-thriller film about an intelligence agent whose wife is accused of betraying her country (in theaters Friday)
Season 3 of The Wheel of Time, a fantasy series about five young villagers who are part of an ancient prophecy (out Thursday)
Liquid: A Love Story, a novel by Mariam Rahmani about a Muslim scholar who leaves her career in academia to marry rich instead (out Tuesday)
Essay
What Ketamine Does to the Human Brain
By Shayla Love
What Ketamine Does to the Human BrainBy Shayla LoveLast month, during Elon Musk's appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, as he hoisted a chain saw in the air, stumbled over some of his words, and questioned whether there was really gold stored in Fort Knox, people on his social-media platform, X, started posting about ketamine.
Read the full article.
More in Culture
Cling to your disgust.
When a celebrity offers a 'harsh reality check'
The nicest swamp on the internet
'Dear James': My husband is a mess.
Coaching is the new 'asking your friends for help.'
A thriller that's most fun when it's boring
Conan O'Brien understood the assignment.
Catch Up on
Mitch McConnell and the president he calls 'despicable'
Trump's most inexplicable decision yet
Martin Baron: Where Jeff Bezos went wrong with The Washington Post
Photo Album
Revelers watch a giant wooden installation depicting a mill tower burn during the annual celebration of Maslenitsa at the Nikola-Lenivets art park southwest of Moscow, on March 1, 2025. The cherished Russian folk festival has its origins in an ancient Slavic holiday marking the end of winter and spring's arrival.
Spend time with photos of the week, including a caretaking humanoid robot in Japan, prayers for Pope Francis in Brazil, a polar-bear-plunge record attempt in the Czech Republic, and more.
When you buy a book using a link in this newsletter, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic.
Article originally published at The Atlantic
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
23 minutes ago
Congressional committees push back on Trump administration's proposed NOAA budget cuts
Lawmakers from both parties have so far rejected steep cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) proposed by the Trump administration and reiterated their support for a fully staffed National Weather Service (NWS) during recent committee meetings, which included key appropriations markup sessions. While the House and Senate spending bills for fiscal year 2026 are still in the early stages of the legislative process, initial drafts indicate bipartisan pushback against the significant cuts outlined in the administration's budget proposal, released earlier this year. For fiscal year 2026, which begins Oct. 1, the Trump administration proposed cutting NOAA's budget by roughly 25%, including the elimination of its research division, the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) and making major reductions to other key offices such as the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), the world's largest provider of weather and climate data. The budget proposal stated, "The FY 2026 budget eliminates all funding for climate, weather, and ocean Laboratories and Cooperative Institutes. It also does not fund Regional Climate Data and Information, Climate Competitive Research, the National Sea Grant College Program, Sea Grant Aquaculture Research, or the National Oceanographic Partnership Program." The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies advanced a spending bill with bipartisan support last week that would fund NOAA at levels mostly in line with budgets of previous years. The fiscal year 2026 Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill provides roughly $5.8 billion to NOAA in 2026, a 6% decrease from the previous year. However, it restores a majority of funding for NOAA's Operations, Research and Facilities (ORF) account, which includes OAR. While specific spending details have not yet been released, this would likely spare many critical research labs and climate institutes from potential cuts. During the July 15 markup session, Subcommittee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., expressed his support for the National Weather Service, emphasizing the recent toll of devastating flooding hitting the country. "Flooding has inflicted much pain on this nation over the last few months," he said. "From my district in Kentucky to Texas, now is the time to ensure the National Weather Service is equipped with the funding it needs to warn and protect our citizens." At the start of the markup session, Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the subcommittee's ranking Democrat, voiced concerns over both the proposed NOAA budget and recent staffing and funding cuts at the National Weather Service. "Weather forecasts are not waste, fraud and abuse," she said. "I ask my colleagues, did anyone come to your town halls and complain that the National Weather Service has too many meteorologists? Too many people issuing advisories, watches and warnings on severe storms?" DeLauro also cited concerns from Bill Turner, Connecticut's state emergency management director, who said the situation is "a very fragile house of cards right now, and we need them to continue… It really could be catastrophic in a lot of ways for our state if they go down that path of stopping the National Weather Service and their functionality." The bill now advances to the full committee for a markup on Thursday, July 24. The Senate's version of the bill allocates approximately $6.14 billion to NOAA for fiscal year 2026, just below the $6.18 billion approved for 2025. While this represents a modest overall decrease, the Senate Committee on Appropriations voted to boost spending for the agency's Operations, Research and Facilities (ORF) account, adding $68.7 million. The increase means more available funding that could go to key offices such as OAR, NWS and NESDIS (National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service). The current Senate bill explicitly signals support for NOAA's mission, including weather and climate research. "The Committee strongly supports Climate Laboratories and Cooperative Institutes for their critical role in delivering high-quality weather information and driving economic benefits across the United States," the bill states. The bill also addresses staffing concerns at local NWS offices across the country and provides additional funding to ensure they become fully staffed. The bill's authors write, "Insufficient staffing levels risk compromising public safety and the NWS's mission to protect lives and property. The Committee provides an additional $10,000,000 for Analyze, Forecast and Support and urges the NWS to prioritize recruitment, retention, and training initiatives to ensure all weather forecast offices (WFOs) are fully staffed." While introducing the bill, Jerry Moran, R- Kan., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Science and Justice, said, "NOAA, and particularly the National Weather Service, is a hugely important component of what this bill funds, and this bill recognizes that importance." He added that the bill "fully funds the National Weather Service" and "eliminates any reduction in the workforce." However, Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, raised concerns that the bill still gave too much discretion to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to determine the staffing levels needed to fulfill the agency's mission and statutory obligation -- "the Office of Management and Budget which clearly made the judgment that the National Weather Service has too many human beings working," Schatz said. He introduced an amendment that would have required the administration to maintain full-time staffing at levels in place as of Sept. 30, 2024, but it was rejected along party lines. The Senate Committee on Appropriations approved the Fiscal Year 2026 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act on July 17 by a vote of 19-10. What does the Trump Administration want to cut? The administration's budget proposal calls for eliminating the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) as a NOAA Line Office, with several of its functions transferred to the National Weather Service and the National Ocean Service. OAR leads NOAA's weather and climate research and develops many of the forecasting tools meteorologists rely on to produce timely and accurate forecasts. The proposed budget would include shutting down NOAA's nationwide network of research labs and cooperative institutes. Among them is the Global Systems Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, where the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) model, a critical tool in modern weather forecasting, was first developed more than a decade ago. The HRRR model helps meteorologists track everything from severe thunderstorms to extreme rainfall to wildfire smoke. The Global Monitoring Laboratory, also based in Boulder, oversees operations at Mauna Loa Observatory on Hawaii's Big Island. This observatory has maintained the world's longest continuous observation of atmospheric carbon dioxide and has been crucial to our understanding of how human-caused greenhouse gas emissions fuel global warming. NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) in Miami, Florida, plays a vital role in operational hurricane forecasting. The lab develops cutting-edge tropical weather models that have significantly improved forecast accuracy in recent decades. National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecasters set a record for forecast track accuracy in 2024, according to a NOAA report. NHC issued 347 official forecasts during the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, and its track predictions set accuracy records at every forecast time period. Who will lead NOAA next? Earlier this month, during a confirmation hearing, Dr. Neil Jacobs, President Donald Trump's nominee to head NOAA, said he supports the administration's proposal to significantly cut the agency's budget arguing the reductions could be achieved by shifting work from research to operations without impacting "mission essential functions." Jacobs also said if confirmed, he would "ensure that staffing the weather service offices is a top priority," adding that, "It's really important for the people to be there because they have relationships with the people in the local community. They're a trusted source." NOAA's 2025 budget costs Americans less than $20 per person this year.
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Donald Trump Won't Absolutely Love That He May Have Just Handed an Emmy to Stephen Colbert
The video plays like a cave painting from the Neolithic era or, even more distantly, from when late-night television still mattered: Stephen Colbert sits in the host chair and makes amends with Donald Trump. 'I want to apologize to you because I've said a few things about you over the years that are, in polite company, perhaps unforgivable,' the Late Show host tells him. 'I hope you'll accept my apology.' More from The Hollywood Reporter The NEA Is Under Attack. If You Work in The Entertainment Industry, That Should Scare You. Jimmy Fallon Addresses Colbert Cancellation: "I Don't Like What's Going on One Bit" Stephen Colbert's Late-Night Allies and Famous Friends Make Cameos on 'The Late Show' After Cancellation 'Accepted,' Trump says, as he notes that Colbert has also said nice things. That moment unfolded a decade ago on the set of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, before Trump had yet to run in a single 2016 primary. Last week, a very different Trump-coded scene unfolded at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York, as Colbert told a restive audience the show was being canceled after his contract expired at the end of next season. This time, Colbert, who's been regaling us on late night since he was hired on the Craig Kilborn-led Daily Show in 1997, had nothing to apologize for and, if anything, might have demanded an apology: the timing smacked of a separate CBS acquiescence to Trump. No one can say for sure if it played a role, of course, but Colbert had just called out parent Paramount's decision to settle a head-scratching 60 Minutes lawsuit by the president for $16 million as it awaits approval for a merger with Skydance. 'I don't know if anything, anything will repair my trust in this company but, just taking a stab at it, I'd say $16 million would help,' Colbert sub-tweeted Trump in his monologue, the latest in a long line of jibes aimed at the White House occupant. Trump volleyed on Truth Social on Friday: 'I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.' But in a battle between a jokester and a man who doesn't find him funny, Colbert may have the last laugh: He could win an Emmy thanks to The Donald. The Late Show With Stephen Colbert has never won any Emmy in its previous nine seasons despite some notable streaks of excellence. (It has been nominated 31 times over that period.) For much of that, it competed in late-night's top category against Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, which Emmy voters love the way Oliver loves a minor-league baseball team. Every year from 2017-22, Colbert went up against his fellow Daily Show alum as rival nominees in the outstanding variety talk category, and every year Oliver beat him. Then in 2023 Colbert seemed to catch a break when Oliver's show was shuffled off to outstanding variety sketch series under some jerry-rigged new rules designed to fill out that category … only for The Daily Show With Trevor Noah to beat him. In 2024, Colbert finally seemed poised to break through with Noah gone from TDS — but Colbert's old boss Jon Stewart had come back for a weekly hosting spot, and so that beat him. (Colbert did win the top Emmy a couple times back in the days of The Colbert Report, pre-CBS and pre-Trump.) This year, we seemed headed to a TDS-over-Late Show outcome once more, even with the nominee field shrunk from five just a few years ago down to three thanks to fewer submissions. Stewart has been clicking on all cylinders and given TDS its highest ratings in 10 years as he was again nominated alongside Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel. There was little reason to think Emmy voters would break with precedent and vote for Colbert. Then came the Trump post. Whether the president actually had a hand in the cancellation matters less than the fact that Emmys voters see a partisan battle in the firing. An Emmy won't change public policy on immigration and Medicaid. But it's one of the few ways liberal Hollywood can stick it to the leader they loathe. They have done that before, particularly in this category, choosing Oliver, the most stridently political and anti-Trump of the bunch, over all his competitors. In fact, Oliver's show has never lost the top Emmy it was eligible for since Trump first became the Republican nominee in 2016 — an astonishing run of 9-0. But this may be Colbert's year too, especially if Stewart gives Colbert his props on his own TDS platform, as he already sharply did Monday night and could continue to in the next month ahead of final voting. (And if Colbert comedically leans into the cancellation, as he also did Monday.) That's especially true if this is Colbert's last chance for a traditional Emmy. What the comic does now is anyone's guess, but mainstream TV seems an unlikely path (more likely: YouTube with maybe some of the TDS gang post-merger). Colbert almost certainly won't retire, like another sixtysomething, Johnny Carson, did after his own 30 years on late-night came to an end. By the way, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson won its first variety Emmy in its last year on the air. In a grand irony, if Trump's stance does give Colbert the Emmy the president will have enabled the host to win an honor that has saltily eluded him. (The Apprentice went 0 for 8.) And if Colbert did finally win for this show, he would gain an acceptance-speech platform of some 7 million TV viewers, and millions more online, all on and courtesy of the the network that just canceled him. Not to mention another year on said network with nothing to lose and plenty of time to target Trump even more. That's the thing about punching someone with a TV megaphone — they can punch back. Colbert and the GOP have actually been in a battle since long before Trump, going back to the comic's satirizing of Bill O'Reilly and other Fox News personalities on TDS and then, explosively, at the WHCD in 2006, when Colbert's skewering of then-President George W. Bush literally sent some staffers walking out of the room. In fact, Colbert has been a thorn in the side of the GOP longer than arguably any popular entertainer — so long that when he started out, the leading Republican figure was Newt Gingrich, opposing President Bill Clinton. That jabbing has gotten Colbert where he is. The WHCD put Colbert Report on the map early in its run and then his turn to political barbs fuel-injected the sputtering Late Show With Stephen Colbert in 2017 shortly after Colbert jumped to broadcast, eventually sending the host to the top of late night. So the trophy Trump is claiming here is a rich one, nearly 30 years in the making, on behalf of several generations of Republican leaders. Of course, the trophy Colbert could wind up winning may be even sweeter. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise Solve the daily Crossword
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Skydance tells FCC it will scrap DEI, appoint media bias official at CBS News
Skydance has made fresh promises to the Federal Communications Commission as it looks to fast-track its merger with Paramount – including a pledge to scrap DEI policies at CBS News and appoint an ombudsman to root out media bias at the network. The Hollywood studio behind blockbusters including 'Mission: Impossible' said in letters to the FCC that it will conduct a 'comprehensive review' of CBS after the merger goes through to ensure the network is operating in the public interest. It will then put in place an ombudsman for at least two years that will report directly to the president of CBS News with 'any complaints of bias or other concerns,' according to copies of the letters earlier reported by The Hollywood Reporter. Advertisement FCC Chairman Brendan Carr speaking at a congressional hearing. Michael Brochstein/ZUMA / Skydance – which, 'for its part, does not have DEI programs in place today and will not establish such initiatives' – also vowed to eliminate diversity programs at CBS News. The letters, which were sent Tuesday, came as President Trump said he expects to receive an additional $20 million from Skydance in advertising and public service announcements once it takes control of Paramount, confirming an exclusive report by The Post. Advertisement These public service ads will be tied to Trump-backed conservative causes, according to The Post's Charles Gasparino. That's on top of a $16 million settlement from CBS News over a lawsuit concerning a controversially-edited '60 Minutes' interview with Kamala Harris. Skydance did not immediately respond to requests seeking confirmation of this figure. Advertisement 'The company is committed to ensuring that its storytelling reflects the many audiences and communities it serves in a manner that complies with non-discrimination requirements and other applicable laws,' Skydance's general counsel wrote in the letter. That change will affect CBS' hiring, promotion, compensation and public messaging practices, as well as its supplier and vendor diversity goals. It will also scrap the office of global inclusion. Skydance is currently seeking FCC approval for the transfer of CBS broadcast licenses, an integral part of the acquisition process, which has been in limbo for about a year. David Ellison, founder and CEO of Skydance Media. WireImage Advertisement FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and CBS News did not immediately respond to The Post's requests for comment. There had been concerns that Trump's lawsuit against CBS News over the '60 Minutes' scandal could stall the deal's review. In the letters, Skydance cited the Trump administration's recent executive orders on DEI and the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling overturning affirmative action as its basis for eliminating diversity policies. Earlier this year, after launching a probe into Comcast's DEI policies, Carr warned that all media companies regulated by the FCC should erase such programs. 'Every single business that's regulated by the FCC … I trust that they have now got the message that the time to end their invidious forms of DEI discrimination is now,' Carr told The Post at the time.
