Readers criticize a guest essay about the pleasures of smoking. Also: The trauma of jury duty; the federalized police in Washington, D.C.

It tethers us to the world, brings us together, asks our bodies to remember a time beyond ourselves.

MAGA would fill museums with self-glorifying kitsch, the aesthetic lingua franca of all authoritarians.

It takes a village to raise a child. But some of the villagers must be men.

As an American and as a Jew, I regard the right to dissent as a patriotic duty.

Here’s what states need to do: Buy renewables now while the discount is still available.

There are troubling signs that our stock market may be overheated.

Russia’s president has long insisted that Ukraine will be his. But his obsession may cost Russia more than he has bargained for.

Ecuador’s ecological progress is threatened by a series of reforms steamrolled by its young populist president, Daniel Noboa.

To be one nation, we have to embrace ground-up social change.

Pediatricians call for keeping migrant families intact. Also: Nuclear pessimism; a view from Canada; “cleaning up” D.C.; food stamps; books, read and unread.

Trump isn’t just shaping the nation; he’s also changing the evangelical church.

For Mr. Trump, there may be few spoils of victory sweeter than the ordeal that they will soon endure.

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority kicked away the best, even last, chance at a national solution to a national problem.

Why the left can’t win without a new Constitution.

There’s no single way to achieve addiction recovery.

Reflections on social cohesion and law enforcement can help policymakers reduce crime even further.

Why the left can’t win until it reckons with this question.

Ukrainians are heroes. It’s time that Donald Trump started acting like it.

Most of us just accept that government economic data is the best possible estimate of the economy. That could change, and that would be bad for all of us.

Labour’s collapse in Britain should scare both parties.

Obamaworld seems interested in understanding Zohran Mamdani’s sudden rise to prominence.

Readers respond to articles about the E.P.A.’s reversal on the dangers of climate change. Also: Hiding unfavorable jobs data.

Philippe Sands discusses how to think about the tragedies in Gaza through the lens of international law.

Every generation gets the “Sex and the City” version it deserves.

Our commander in chief has decided to also command the Fortune 500.

David Wallace-Wells and Emily Oster argue that the effects of MAHA will be long-lasting.

The president and his allies have reshaped the military for their own purposes.

Philippe Sands discusses how to think about the tragedies in Gaza through the lens of international law.