Harper’s Magazine

In our October issue: Kyle Paoletta on prairie populism, Hari Kunzru on art and censorship after 9/11, Belén Fernández on rise and fall of immigration boomtowns, J. B. MacKinnon on poultry and paranoia in Canada, a new story by Tom Drury, and more. harpers.org/archive/2026...

From the September Harper’s Index. buff.ly/Q06fGEm

“Ten billion snow crabs have disappeared from the Bering Sea. Oceans have never been this hot in recorded history. The one torture method G proposed that I shut down immediately was cold-water immersion. Researchers say the ocean is suffocating.” —@alienvsrobbins.bsky.social buff.ly/AL2A8j0

“When we met for the first time a couple weeks later, she pissed on my socks and beat me until I bruised with the copy of Mary Gaitskill’s Bad Behavior I’d brought her, stupidly thinking she was soliciting a gift when she told me to bring a book I loved.”

“Judas Priest Puscifer Pestifer Wormrat Wormsand” Bands that have appeared on the lineup at Hellfest, an annual heavy-metal-­focused music festival in Clisson, France, since 2023. buff.ly/xL89lfA

“While it seemed clear that progressives have a golden opportunity to reconnect with the heartland this year, everyone I spoke with was trying to determine what a populist revival might look like.” —Kyle Paoletta buff.ly/CISgoW0

Every month in our Findings column, Rafil Kroll-Zaidi presents a constellation of the most—and least—important scientific discoveries. buff.ly/HZ3ivqs

“Lamashtu was primarily a threat to patriarchy itself. Because of her tendency to kill children and women of reproductive age, she destabilized inheritances and property lines.” From Monstrous Bitch: A History of Terrifying Women, by Eleanor Johnson. buff.ly/v3Ak009

“‘What do you do when tyranny walks in the front door?’ asked a woman wearing a bucket hat. ‘Do you ask it politely to leave?’” J. B. MacKinnon reports the movement that arose to protest the culling of hundreds of ostriches. buff.ly/v5q1ZJ2

“Pity is a corrosive substance. I’ve learned to avoid it in my work (I work in a lab). I can’t love everyone, I can’t give back their prayers.” From a 2016 story by Anne Carson. buff.ly/S6BYS6d

“There were no dead bodies, no evidence of criminal activity. That was when the police began to seriously consider the hypothesis that the blood was entering the washing machine from somewhere else.” —Elvira Navarro buff.ly/gvMO2ZQ

J. B. MacKinnon spoke with Matthew Sherrill about Canadian paranoia, the science behind ostrich culling, and Trump’s collapsing reputation north of the border. buff.ly/N12UqUy

“Foxes are pretty animals. They enjoy being pretty animals. This creates a poise that is easily mistaken for judicial distance. But does it really matter who makes the decisions? As long as somebody does. Community can be such a mush.” —Anne Carson buff.ly/QeMuTbh

“I am a lion and they are sheep The drive for revenge burns in me and it’s hot” From lyrics of songs by the Israeli rappers the Shadow and Subliminal. Itamar Ben-Gvir, attended the rappers’ joint birthday party in December. buff.ly/zdOHLUy