Some ways to lessen the world’s most deadly risk. Also: The debate over work visas; unreliable polls; cruelty and Christianity.

Americans think of our society as so divided. Might there be some upside to starting the new year knowing we aren’t as polarized as we thought?

Where Times Opinion — and listeners — found joy this year.

Eviscerating modern state institutions almost always clears a path for a different political order, built on loyalties and connections to the ruler.

The Biden administration’s approach to China has been full of contradictions.

The world’s next great cuisine isn’t hidden in some undiscovered corner of the globe. It’s in the spaces among cultures, traditions and technologies.

Congress must prepare a plan now to avoid global meltdown.

Readers praise the former president’s accomplishments and character and recall encounters with him.

Carter’s vision and persistence on solar energy deserve to be brightly illuminated.

​My year-end awards in politics for hottest kingmaker, biggest flash in the pan, top mean girl, most disappointing draft pick and more.

These organizations are capturing local and regional news about climate and environmental justice that often flies under the national radar.

The burden of debt and public pensions could soon push Chicago into bankruptcy.

When I wrote about grieving my friend’s suicide, readers reached out to share stories of similar loss.

Jimmy Carter viewed his embrace of human rights as a means of restoring faith in America.

Nicholas Kristof on what the former president’s legacy meant to him — and the world.

We in the media and chattering class jeered at a man who probably improved more lives over a longer period than any other recent president.

He was a model ex-president and achieved a great deal in office.

What the 39th president did before he got to the White House is as interesting as what came after.

Readers discuss the possibility of Republicans pushing for one. Also: Care for migrant children; sober at parties; Rudolph at Dartmouth.

His relationship with Chinese leaders and reported contacts with Russian officials are cause for alarm.

Populists may promise low taxes and deregulation, but they also undermine the institutions that help an economy run smoothly.

Just don’t force people to pay to use them.

North Korea is the weak link in the emerging coalition of authoritarian states, and the incoming president is uniquely positioned to exploit this.

The diary I kept this past year offers me an express ticket back to beautiful moments I’ve lived.

Steven Rattner recaps a historic year in charts.

Blame is simplistic. Might I suggest that there is another way to understand what happened with the president? A more humane way?

My story is one small part of an ongoing struggle for restaurant workers and culinary culture.

In that quiet space there is solace, a silence like nothing else.

Schubert’s final three piano sonatas are a deep exploration of loneliness, and particularly apt for our age of isolation.