Gal Beckerman

New York

Staff writer at @TheAtlantic, formerly @nytimesbooks, and author, most recently, of "The Quiet Before: On the Unexpected Origins of Radical Ideas."

Articles

The True Cost of Trump’s Statue Garden

1 week ago | yahoo.com | Gal Beckerman

Pity the documentary filmmaker: A job already replete with near impossibilities—impossible to secure funding, impossible to get distribution, impossible to find an attentive audience—has just become even more difficult. The Trump administration cut funding last week to nearly all of the National Endowment for the Humanities’ current grants—1,200 of them—including one to Yuriko Romer’s decade-in-the-making project.
How R. Crumb Tapped Into America’s Screwy Id

1 week ago | theatlantic.com | Gal Beckerman

Certain great artists are synonymous with their kinks. Egon Schiele had his thing for gaunt girls and their undergarments. Robert Mapplethorpe was partial to bulging muscles wrapped in leather. And then there is the legendary cartoonist R. Crumb—lover of solid legs, worshipper of meaty thighs, champion of the ample backside. To truly know his art is to know what turns him on. Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.
How R. Crumb Tapped Into America’s Screwy Id

1 week ago | flipboard.com | Gal Beckerman

Literary fiction is a notoriously difficult genre to pin down—if we can even call it a genre. It’s more about style, quality of prose…or perhaps …
Forget the Resistance. Welcome to the Slog.

2 weeks ago | theatlantic.com | Gal Beckerman

Last Saturday, I paid a visit to a little slice of the resistance in its current, attenuated form. Since Donald Trump’s second inauguration, there have been many street protests, but they have been small and diffuse: a few hundred people angered by the defunding of USAID, or a couple thousand in support of national parks. The most organized effort so far, the 50501 movement (for “50 states. 50 protests. 1 movement.”), is a coalition of activists whose name telegraphs breadth much more than depth.
The Democrats Who Want a Bully

1 month ago | theatlantic.com | Gal Beckerman

Back when Rahm Emanuel was President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, the idea that a political operative once nicknamed Rahmbo could be a viable candidate to succeed his boss would have seemed a little far-fetched. But when Emanuel suggested to Politico last week that he was considering a run, what was previously unimaginable suddenly made some sense. Emanuel, also a former mayor of Chicago, has a reputation for being a bulldozer. He has little time for niceties.
Searching for the Democratic Bully

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Gal Beckerman

Sign up for Trump’s Return, a newsletter featuring coverage of the second Trump presidency. Back when Rahm Emanuel was President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, the idea that a political operative once nicknamed Rahmbo could be a viable candidate to succeed his boss would have seemed a little far-fetched. But when Emanuel suggested to Politico last week that he was considering a run, what was previously unimaginable suddenly made some sense.
‘America Is No Longer America’

1 month ago | msn.com | Gal Beckerman

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Chimamanda Adichie: ‘America Is No Longer America’

1 month ago | theatlantic.com | Gal Beckerman

One could almost be forgiven for forgetting that Chimananda Ngozie Adichie is a novelist. Well over a decade has passed since she published the best seller Americanah, about a young Nigerian woman’s confrontation with race and identity, which quickly secured a spot in the contemporary canon. The novel elevated Adichie to rare literary stardom—onto the cover of British Vogue, into a Beyoncé song. She continued to write but stuck to nonfiction—long essays on feminism and, more recently, on grief.
Chimamanda Adichie: ‘America Is No Longer America’

1 month ago | flipboard.com | Gal Beckerman

1 hour agoInternational Women's Day is a time to honour the achievements, stories, and contributions of women across the globe. Whether you're looking to discover inspiring documentaries, listen to thought-provoking podcasts, dive into powerful dramas or celebrate cracking comedy, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds …
The Key Mismatch Between Zelensky and Trump

1 month ago | theatlantic.com | Gal Beckerman

One of the stranger moments among many in yesterday’s White House presser-turned-grudge-match with Volodymyr Zelensky was a query about the Ukrainian president’s outfit. He was in town to sign a deal that would give the United States a big stake in his country’s rare earth minerals and, hopefully, some newfound motivation to help fend off Russia’s aggression.