What are the proper limits of technology in our personal lives? Dara Horn’s new novel, A Guide for the Perplexed, takes up this question as it presents a modern-day version of the biblical story of Joseph and his brothers, in which a new app (not entirely unlike Facebook) allows individuals to track and archive every
On February 14, news reports began to surface that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni planned to sign into law the nation’s draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill, often referred to as the “Kill the Gays” bill. The provision for which the bill was nicknamed—the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality”—was taken out of the bill’s latest version in exchange for
On an overcast afternoon last November, Narendra Modi, the provocative and polarizing prime minister candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, descended by helicopter to exhort his throng of supporters at the Palace Grounds in Bangalore, the southern Indian city known for its international call centers and technology companies. The BJP, champion of “Hindu
One of the most haunting scenes in the film 12 Years a Slave comes shortly after the main character Solomon Northup—now known by his enslavers as Platt—arrives in New Orleans. In the minutes leading to this scene, Northup (Chiwetal Ejiofor) has transformed before our eyes from a free man who adores his wife and children