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David Remnick head shot - The New Yorker

David Remnick

David Remnick has been the editor of The New Yorker since 1998 and a staff writer since 1992. He has written hundreds of pieces for the magazine, including reporting from Russia, the Middle East, and Europe and Profiles of Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Katharine Graham, Mike Tyson, Bruce Springsteen, Ralph Ellison, Philip Roth, Benjamin Netanyahu, Leonard Cohen, and Mavis Staples. He also serves as the host of the magazine’s national radio program and podcast, “The New Yorker Radio Hour.”

Remnick began his reporting career in 1982, as a staff writer at the Washington Post, where he covered stories for the Metro, Sports, and Style sections. In 1988, he started a four-year assignment as a Washington Post Moscow correspondent, an experience that formed the basis of his 1993 book, “Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire.” In 1994, “Lenin’s Tomb” received both the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction and a George Polk Award for excellence in journalism.

Under Remnick’s leadership, The New Yorker has become the country’s most honored magazine. It has won more than fifty National Magazine Awards during his tenure, including multiple citations for general excellence. In 2016, The New Yorker became the first magazine to receive a Pulitzer Prize for its writing, and now has won six Pulitzers, including the gold medal for public service. Remnick was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2016.

Remnick has written seven books: “Lenin’s Tomb,” “Resurrection: The Struggle for a New Russia,” “King of the World” (a biography of Muhammad Ali), and “The Bridge” (a biography of Barack Obama), along with “The Devil Problem,” “Reporting,” and “Holding the Note,” which are collections of some of his pieces from the magazine. He has also edited or co-edited many anthologies of New Yorker articles, including “The Matter of Black Lives,” “The Fragile Earth,” “Life Stories,” “Wonderful Town,” “The New Gilded Age,” “Fierce Pajamas,” “Disquiet, Please!,” and “Secret Ingredients.”

Remnick has taught at Princeton University, where he received his B.A., in 1981, and at Columbia University. He lives in New York with his wife, Esther Fein; they have three children, Alex, Noah, and Natasha.

Randall Kennedy on Harvard Protests, Antisemitism, and the Meaning of Free Speech

“The word ‘safety,’ ” the legal scholar tells David Remnick, has “been very much inflated,” and defining antisemitism too broadly will have a chilling effect on academic freedom.

Israel, Gaza, and the Turmoil at One American University

Not since the Vietnam War has a protest movement reached college campuses with such fury. We look at the reverberations at one school, Harvard University.

A Georgia Official Pressured by Trump Prepares for Another Election

Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, refused to “find” votes for Donald Trump in 2020. Amid threats, he says he’s ready for voters to cast their ballots in 2024.

The Scholar of Comedy

Jerry Seinfeld on how to write jokes, the ending of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and the world-historical struggle to invent the Pop-Tart.

Jerry Seinfeld on Making a Life in Comedy (and Also, Pop-Tarts)

At seventy, the comedian débuts as a movie director with “Unfrosted,” about the invention of the Pop-Tart. And Georgia’s Brad Raffensperger on how to convince an election denier.

Jonathan Haidt on “The Anxious Generation”

The evidence implicating social-media apps, the social psychologist says, is not another moral panic over technology. “Actually, this time is different,” he insists. “Here’s why.”

Jonathan Haidt Wants You to Take Away Your Kid’s Phone

The social psychologist discusses the “great rewiring” of children’s brains, why social-media companies are to blame, and how to reverse course.

The War Games of Israel and Iran

While Netanyahu and the Islamic Republic exchange ballistic “messages,” the question of Palestine demands the moral and strategic courage of actual statesmen.

Jonathan Haidt on the Plague of Anxiety Affecting Young People—Plus, Judi Dench

It’s not another moral panic, the social psychologist says: the evidence clearly implicates social-media apps for a decline in mental health. Plus, Judi Dench on a life in Shakespeare.

A Bipartisan Effort to Carve out Exemptions to Texas’s Abortion Ban

Rare across-the-aisle coöperation in Austin aims to protect the lives of some women who need abortions—and protect their doctors from prosecution.

How a Republican and a Democrat Carved out Exemptions to Texas’s Abortion Ban

Rare across-the-aisle coöperation in Austin aims to protect some people who need abortions and the doctors who provide them. Plus, a band rehearsal with the songwriter and actor Maya Hawke.

The Attack on Black History In Schools

Why are so many states restricting what schools can teach about racism? Two leading journalist-historians discuss the efforts to ban or rewrite the teaching of Black history.

No Kaddish for “Curb”

Larry David bows out.

The Attack on Black History, with Nikole Hannah-Jones and Jelani Cobb

Why are so many states legislating restrictions on what schools can teach about racism? Plus, the film critic Justin Chang on what he’s looking forward to seeing in 2024.

Kara Swisher on Tech Billionaires: “I Don’t Think They Like People”

One of the most influential Silicon Valley reporters chronicles the rise of an industry, and moguls like Elon Musk, in “Burn Book.”

Alicia Keys Returns to Her Roots with Her New Musical, “Hell’s Kitchen”

In her musical opening on Broadway, Keys tells a story very much like her own life—but don’t call it autobiographical. Plus, Rhiannon Giddens on the Black roots of country music.

Adam Gopnik on Hitler’s Rise to Power

The writer considers how Hitler came to power, and what it tells us about the 2024 election.

Trump’s Authoritarian Pronouncements Recall a Dark History

Adam Gopnik considers how Hitler came to power, and what it tells us about the 2024 election. Plus, rewriting “Huckleberry Finn” from the point of view of Jim.

Judith Butler on the Global Backlash to L.G.B.T.Q. Rights

The philosopher popularized new ideas about gender—and has been burned in effigy for it. They talk with David Remnick about their new book, “Who’s Afraid of Gender?”

Judith Butler Can’t “Take Credit or Blame” for Gender Furor

The philosopher popularized new ideas about gender—and has been burned in effigy for it. They talk with David Remnick about “Who’s Afraid of Gender?” Plus, a little March Madness.

Randall Kennedy on Harvard Protests, Antisemitism, and the Meaning of Free Speech

“The word ‘safety,’ ” the legal scholar tells David Remnick, has “been very much inflated,” and defining antisemitism too broadly will have a chilling effect on academic freedom.

Israel, Gaza, and the Turmoil at One American University

Not since the Vietnam War has a protest movement reached college campuses with such fury. We look at the reverberations at one school, Harvard University.

A Georgia Official Pressured by Trump Prepares for Another Election

Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, refused to “find” votes for Donald Trump in 2020. Amid threats, he says he’s ready for voters to cast their ballots in 2024.

The Scholar of Comedy

Jerry Seinfeld on how to write jokes, the ending of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and the world-historical struggle to invent the Pop-Tart.

Jerry Seinfeld on Making a Life in Comedy (and Also, Pop-Tarts)

At seventy, the comedian débuts as a movie director with “Unfrosted,” about the invention of the Pop-Tart. And Georgia’s Brad Raffensperger on how to convince an election denier.

Jonathan Haidt on “The Anxious Generation”

The evidence implicating social-media apps, the social psychologist says, is not another moral panic over technology. “Actually, this time is different,” he insists. “Here’s why.”

Jonathan Haidt Wants You to Take Away Your Kid’s Phone

The social psychologist discusses the “great rewiring” of children’s brains, why social-media companies are to blame, and how to reverse course.

The War Games of Israel and Iran

While Netanyahu and the Islamic Republic exchange ballistic “messages,” the question of Palestine demands the moral and strategic courage of actual statesmen.

Jonathan Haidt on the Plague of Anxiety Affecting Young People—Plus, Judi Dench

It’s not another moral panic, the social psychologist says: the evidence clearly implicates social-media apps for a decline in mental health. Plus, Judi Dench on a life in Shakespeare.

A Bipartisan Effort to Carve out Exemptions to Texas’s Abortion Ban

Rare across-the-aisle coöperation in Austin aims to protect the lives of some women who need abortions—and protect their doctors from prosecution.

How a Republican and a Democrat Carved out Exemptions to Texas’s Abortion Ban

Rare across-the-aisle coöperation in Austin aims to protect some people who need abortions and the doctors who provide them. Plus, a band rehearsal with the songwriter and actor Maya Hawke.

The Attack on Black History In Schools

Why are so many states restricting what schools can teach about racism? Two leading journalist-historians discuss the efforts to ban or rewrite the teaching of Black history.

No Kaddish for “Curb”

Larry David bows out.

The Attack on Black History, with Nikole Hannah-Jones and Jelani Cobb

Why are so many states legislating restrictions on what schools can teach about racism? Plus, the film critic Justin Chang on what he’s looking forward to seeing in 2024.

Kara Swisher on Tech Billionaires: “I Don’t Think They Like People”

One of the most influential Silicon Valley reporters chronicles the rise of an industry, and moguls like Elon Musk, in “Burn Book.”

Alicia Keys Returns to Her Roots with Her New Musical, “Hell’s Kitchen”

In her musical opening on Broadway, Keys tells a story very much like her own life—but don’t call it autobiographical. Plus, Rhiannon Giddens on the Black roots of country music.

Adam Gopnik on Hitler’s Rise to Power

The writer considers how Hitler came to power, and what it tells us about the 2024 election.

Trump’s Authoritarian Pronouncements Recall a Dark History

Adam Gopnik considers how Hitler came to power, and what it tells us about the 2024 election. Plus, rewriting “Huckleberry Finn” from the point of view of Jim.

Judith Butler on the Global Backlash to L.G.B.T.Q. Rights

The philosopher popularized new ideas about gender—and has been burned in effigy for it. They talk with David Remnick about their new book, “Who’s Afraid of Gender?”

Judith Butler Can’t “Take Credit or Blame” for Gender Furor

The philosopher popularized new ideas about gender—and has been burned in effigy for it. They talk with David Remnick about “Who’s Afraid of Gender?” Plus, a little March Madness.