Front Dispatches Culture & Critics Back
70
OMNIVORE
The New Rules of
Music Snobbery
Hulu’s High Fidelity
reboot captures the rise
of fervent eclecticism.
By Spencer Kornhaber72
The Mulatta Unmasks
Herself to Her Husband
A poem by Shara McCallum74
BOOKS
The Supreme Court’s
Enduring Bias
Siding with the powerful
against the vulnerable has
become the rule.
By Michael O’Donnell78
BOOKS
The Art of Second Chances
On Emily St. John Mandel’s
disaster-steeped fiction
By Ruth Franklin82
BOOKS
Abraham Lincoln’s
Radical Moderation
What the president understood
that the zealous Republican
reformers in Congress didn’t
By Andrew Ferguson86
FICTION
Go, Team
A short story by
Samantha Hunt96
Ode to Cold Showers
By James Parker6
The Commons
Discussion & Debate
ILLUSTRATION BY
MENDELSUND/MUNDAYOn the CoverMARCH 2020
9
OPENING ARGUMENT
In Praise of the
Herd Mentality
How the human instinct to
conform could help us meet the
challenge of the climate crisis
By Robert H. Frank14
SKETCH
The Witching Hour
Juliet Diaz is at the forefront of
a growing witchcraft movement.
By Bianca Bosker18
PREDICTIONS
Can You Still Trust
Nate Silver?
The leader of the data revolution
believes the rest of the media is in
danger of getting 2020 wrong.
By David A. Graham22
MATERIAL WORLD
Why Restoration
Hardware Sends Catalogs
the Size of a Toddler
The surprising persistence
of the mail-order business
By Amanda Mull26
VIEWFINDER
Made in the U.S.A.
Objects created by
American prisoners COVER: CSA IMAGES / GETTY4 MARCH 2020