“As I write, a kind of axis forms that makes possible the appearance of certain characters, and I go ahead and fit one detail after another into place, like iron scraps attaching to a magnet.” Haruki Murakami on how he creates characters: theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…

“Charismatic populists have a knack for making unlikely comebacks,” writes Yascha Mounk. “For this type of demagogue, Johnson’s enduring appeal is the norm, not the exception”: theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

This year's unfounded Halloween-candy scare: Rainbow-colored fentanyl.

A professor who has spent decades trying to debunk the fear of drugs or razors in children’s candy talks with Caroline Mimbs Nyce about the recurring panic: on.theatln.tc/lEU1T03

“A child born today will turn 18 in 2040. What attitudes and actions toward race and ethnicity would we adopt today if we had the best interests of that rising generation in mind?” Conor Friedersdorf asks. Readers share their thoughts: theatlantic.com/newsletters/ar…

'If you haven’t seen 'Station Eleven' on HBO Max yet, pause everything nonessential in your life and go watch it.'

Jordan Calhoun shares what he's loving in culture right now: on.theatln.tc/RISPjfZ

The American people have been presented with a false dichotomy: the diligent promotion of masks and vaccines, or a kind of resignation—saying 'you do you' ... even claiming that the pandemic is over,' writes Céline Gounder, MD, ScM, FIDSA 🇺🇦: on.theatln.tc/5Ed2mzv

The return of David S. Pumpkins let “SNL” lean into the anarchic comedy of a sketch that makes little sense. Amanda Wicks writes: on.theatln.tc/O5leelW

Two things are exciting about 'Lift Me Up,' Rihanna's first solo single since 2016, Spencer Kornhaber writes. One is the sound of her voice. The other is the ambition it signals. on.theatln.tc/eZDX6pP

For 'How to Build a Life,' Arthur Brooks offers advice on how to bring more transcendence into your life—and why even if you're not religious, exploring the metaphysical can be good for your brain: on.theatln.tc/8QLwIMS

It is no longer possible to answer the phone successfully, Ian Bogost is Already a Halloween Name writes. on.theatln.tc/2BiqmN8

“If old heroes ‘must fall,’ their disappearance opens voids for new heroes,” writes David Frum, “and that insertion sometimes requires that new history be fabricated altogether—the ‘bad history’ that James Sweet tried to warn against”: on.theatln.tc/FUD2Fqu

America's bivalent-booster campaign has not been going according to plan. Will that make the inevitable winter COVID wave even worse? Yasmin Tayag investigates: theatlantic.com/health/archive…

Quick-delivery grocery apps hoovered up billions of dollars of venture capital and expanded rapidly during the pandemic. But investors should have seen their near-instant implosion coming, writes Amanda Mull. on.theatln.tc/sNs81jz

'Being an NBA fan who loves the Wizards is a little like being a foodie who adores turnips: It just doesn’t make sense.' Lousy sports teams make fans miserable, writes Ken Budd. So what keeps people sticking around? theatlantic.com/health/archive…

Political violence in America is nonpartisan, David Frum writes. “But if both Republicans and Democrats, left and right, suffer political violence, the same cannot be said of those who celebrate political violence.” on.theatln.tc/XGQtKck

'That such a weighty matter could come down to the randomness of a blood clot in one man’s brain feels unthinkable,' David A. Graham writes. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

Lead bullets are poisoning America's favorite bird, and an unlikely alliance between hunters and conservationists is forming to help, reports Christine Peterson for High Country News: on.theatln.tc/32VdaOF

'People treat admissions as, you know, they’re lining people up from best to worst and taking the top ones,' the sociologist Natasha Warikoo tells adam harris. But, she says, 'that’s not how it works': on.theatln.tc/MMvSF8M

Mississippi's welfare scandal shows why the U.S. 'should abandon its stingy, difficult means-tested programs and move to a system of generous, simple-to-access social supports—ones that would also be harder for politicians to plunder,' Annie Lowrey writes:
on.theatln.tc/2SXXNoF